BRANDON, Fla. - Years in the making and finally after two years, a young boy is ready to give his family friend a completely selfless gift, sure to warm the heart. 
 
 On Thursday, two families met at the JCPenney's store at Westfield Brandon Mall where they started with an appointment for a photo shoot. 
 
 The purpose of the photo shoot was for Gabby Ruiz, 12, and her family friend Tyler Boone, 10, from Georgia. 
 
 The two have shared a friendship hundreds of miles apart after meeting years ago. 
 
 Gabby has no hair because since the age of four she was diagnosed with Alopecia areata, a hair loss disorder. 
 
 Although she has gone through different types of treatments, she's been unable to grow her hair, so Tyler decided he wanted to make her a wig. 
 
 For two years Tyler has been growing his hair -- so long, he's been mistaken for a girl too many times to count. 
 
 "I'm used to it now," he said. 
 
 But, with a smile on his face, the 10 year old went on about when he met Gabby, and how he just wanted to make her happy so he decided to grow his hair for her. 
 
 Gabby is a little shy to talk but has the perfect smile -- bright eyes and the best accessories from beanies, to a scarf, and perfect nails. It makes you not even notice she has no hair. 
 
 For nearly an hour, the two giggled and laughed during a photo shoot highlighting how long Tyler's hair grew. 
 
 They took pictures with a tape measurer showing Tyler's hair at 12 inches, then captured the moments as Gabby personally cut his hair. 
 
 The hair will be donated to a nonprofit, Children with Hair Loss, to make a wig just for Gabby. 
 
 Following the photo shoot, the two walked over to the salon inside the mall, where Tyler got treated to a new hair style of his choice. 
 
 Gabby, watched Tyler the entire time and uttered to him, "it's cool," while looking on. 
 
 After 45 minutes, Tyler revealed his new buzz-cut, almost unrecognizable. 
 
 A great new look to head into the New Year! 

 For two years, a 10-year-old Georgia boy ignored the bullies while growing his hair out – all to help a family friend who had lost her own. 
 
 Gabby Ruiz, 12, was diagnosed with alopecia-areata, a hair loss disorder, at the age of 4. 
 
 So with his locks falling to his shoulders, Tyler Boone met Ruiz last week at a mall in Brandon, Florida, where she lives, for a photo shoot of the big haircut. 
 
 The two have shared a friendship hundreds of miles apart after meeting years ago, WFTS in Tampa reported. 
 
 Although Gabby has gone through different types of treatments, she’s been unable to grow her hair, so Tyler decided he wanted to make her a wig. “He said, ‘Well, it’s just hair, I can grow hair,'” Tyler’s mom, Denise Boone, told ABC News. 
 
 Tyler has been growing his hair so long he’s been mistaken for a girl. 
 
 “I’m used to it now,” he said. 
 
 But, with a smile on his face, the 10-year-old spoke about how he met Gabby, adding, “I just want to make her happy.” 
 
 For nearly an hour, the two giggled and laughed during the photo shoot. 
 
 They took pictures with a tape measure showing Tyler’s hair at 12 inches, then captured the moments as Gabby personally cut his hair. 
 
 The hair will be donated to a nonprofit, Children with Hair Loss, to make a wig just for Gabby. 
 
 Following the photo shoot, the two walked over to the salon inside the mall, where Tyler got treated to a new hair style of his choice. 
 
 Gabby watched Tyler the entire time and, after 45 minutes, he emerged sporting a buzz-cut.
– For two years, Tyler Boone has been growing his hair out, and a few days after Christmas the 10-year-old finally had his 12-inch tresses shorn—not as part of some evolving tween aesthetic, but because the kid with the "super-big heart" was donating it to a friend who suffers hair loss, ABC News reports. The Georgia boy has been friends for years with 12-year-old Gabby Ruiz of Florida, where he used to live, and they've stayed pals despite the distance, per WFTS. When the two kids first started playing together, Tyler was curious why Gabby always wore head coverings, and his parents filled him in on her condition: alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss on the head and other parts of the body. Gabby had gone through myriad treatments to spur hair growth, but none of them had worked, which got Tyler thinking about how he could help his friend. His solution: He'd grow his own hair out so that Gabby could make a wig out of it. "It's just hair, I can grow hair," he said at the time, per his mom. And so for two years Tyler let his hair grow down to his shoulders, shrugging off bullies and being mistaken for a girl. "I'm used to it now," he says, per KTLA. "I just want to make her happy." The kids headed to a mall hair salon in Brandon, Fla., on Dec. 29, where Gabby did the honors of lopping off Tyler's ponytail to usher in his new 'do (he opted for a buzz cut). "This is Tyler's personality … not something we encouraged him to do," his dad tells ABC. Gabby's wig, being put together by the nonprofit Children With Hair Loss, will be ready in about six weeks, her mom says. (A pill for hair loss hasn't offered the solution many hoped for.)