Bus driver braids hair for girl who lost her mother

Almost every morning, Utah bus driver Tracey Dean braids the hair of a local schoolgirl who lost her mother to a rare illness.

Isabella Pieri, 11, is responsible for getting herself ready for school each day, as her father Philip leaves early for work.

After Isabella's mother died, the doting dad was sure to teach his daughter how to care for herself.

“I originally just gave her a crew cut because I didn’t know how ... it was all tangled," Philip tells news station KSL.

Having regrown her hair, Isabella would simply pull it back into a ponytail and head off to her Alpine school - until she noticed Tracey fixing another student's braids as she was getting off the bus one day.

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Mustering up her courage, the 11-year-old approached the driver and asked if she could braid her hair, too.

Tracey obliged, and she now braids Isabella's hair most mornings - a small gesture that makes a huge difference to the schoolgirl's day.

On that first day, Isabella's teacher noticed the girl's head was "a little higher" when she came into class.

Her father Philip was also touched by Tracey's kindness towards his daughter, telling KSL it left him "amazed".

Tracey explains she can understand the Pieiris' situation, having been through a health scare of her own years earlier.

“Seven years ago, I found out I had breast cancer, and that’s one of the things that went though my head — who is going to take care of my little ones?" she tells KSL reporter Shara Park.

"Not that my husband couldn’t do it, but ... that’s what mums do, they do their kids’ hair.”