Teen battling cancer was told to take off hat during picture day

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
Picture day is one of the biggest days of the school year for kids. But for one middle school student, it was one of the most humiliating.

“It was just really humiliating and upsetting for me. I was trying hard not to cry. It was just not a good experience,” Bella Thurston said. Bella Thurston, 13, is battling cancer. “She has ependymoma, which is a brain and spine tumor. She was first diagnosed when she was 5,” Kara Thurston, her mother, said.

Some of Bella’s hair had fallen out after recent chemo treatments. That’s why she wears a hat.On picture d ay at Hoover Middle School, she said the photographer told her she needed to take her hat off.

“He says it's against policy. And I was like, 'OK, so I can't wear my hat?' and he was like, 'No, you can go fix your hair, take your hat off or I won't take your picture,' and I didn't let him take my picture because I didn't feel that I needed to take my hat off in order for him to take my picture,” Bella said.

Lifetouch Photography officials apologized for what they call a misunderstanding ...

Full article:
https://www.koat.com/article/teen-battling-cancer-was-told-to-take-off-hat-during-picture-day/22841754