A supportive sister is to have up to 18 inches of her hair cut off to raise money for charity after it supported her younger sister.

Ten-year-old Mia Graham, from Feering, wants to make a difference to other children who have suffered burns like her younger sister, Maizie.

In 2013, at just eight months old, Maizie was involved in an accident at home and nearly lost her life.

Due to a fault with the family’s boiler, the water from the hot tap in the bath was coming out at 82C and Maizie suffered 45 per cent deep dermal burns.

Their mum, Jodie Stockwell, said: “Maizie was a very poorly baby and spent three-and-a-half months on the Burns Intensive Care Unit at Broomfield Hospital.

“She then became even more poorly and spent a month in Great Ormond Street Hospital - all of this time she was on full life support.

“Finally she started to pull through and get better and we managed to get her home days before her first birthday.”

Maizie is now a happy and bubbly five-year-old, although she still spends a lot of time in and out of hospital having operation, physiotherapy and laser treatment.

All money raised from Mia’s hair cut will go to the Children’s Burns Club, a registered charity under the umbrella of the Mid Essex Hospital Trust, which offers support to burn survivors and their families.

Mrs Stockwell added: “Maizie is such an inspiration and takes everything in her stride and with an infectious smile.

“The Children’s Burns Club helps burn survivors and their families to cope with everyday life, gives them the chance to feel that they can be themselves and shows them that they are not alone in their injuries.

“They have helped and taught us so much and we would truly be lost without them all.”

The Children’s Burns Club is not funded by the NHS and relies on donations from members of the public.

So far Mia, who will also donate to The Little Princess Trust, has raised more than £600, almost doubling her target of £350.

To donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/jodie-graham2.