Funding and awareness for Anna’s alopecia

Over the last year, I have been struggling with Alopecia, an illness that occurs when the body tissues are attacked by its own immune system. The immune system attacks hair follicles, resulting in major hair loss. It can occur in one or two patches or, can progress to the loss of hair from scalp to the rest of the body, including eyebrows and lashes. Alopecia often comes hand in hand with other auto immune conditions such as type 1 diabetes, like it has for myself. It can bought on/worsened by severe stress. For myself, it started off as a small coin sized patch on the left side of my head, barely noticeable. But over the past 2 months it’s gotten so severe due to personal trauma and stress, that I am almost fully bald, on the left side of my head and I have approximately 7 coin sized patches on the rest of my head, in places where I do have some hair left. It is rapidly falling out, every time I brush or wash my hair, there are clumps just falling out. The reality is, that I am losing all my hair, and need to accept this and start to think of options to deal with this huge change in my life. I will be shaving the rest of my hair off soon, as it’s getting too hard to hide and too hard to watch it fall out whenever I touch it. I’ve cut my hair short for the time being, to hopefully make it slightly more manageable.

funding is available for wigs, you get allocated a small amount to last you for a period of 9 years. I have been to a place here in Nelson that are here to help people like myself but unfortunately the funding was only able to cover me for one wig, which isn’t very practical for my type of work. I am an apprentice painter so i am messy, I need something I can tie up easily and have it stay put all day. The place I went, couldn’t offer me options that would meet my needs, and I felt it was my only option being here in Nelson. I left feeling very confused and uneducated on wigs, what type I needed and not feeling comfortable with what I was going through, which I had hoped they would have been able to help me with.

I’ve done my own research and talked to a lot of people going through the same thing, and I’ve been recommended to help either in Dunedin or Auckland. They offer wigs with a suction cap so you can do everything with it on, which is exactly what I need! My passions are out door activity’s, riding bikes and swimming and what not, so I do believe this is the best option for me. This is where I need some help to raise some money and hopefully make this possible. It is an expensive process, one of these wigs costs roughly around $4000, plus travel costs. If I get to Dunedin or Auckland and find out that this type of wig isn’t what I’m after, the money I will raise will still help me to find my perfect option! They aren’t open over the new year so this gives me a few weeks to try raise as much as I can towards it.

Not only am I asking for your help, but also, i am wanting to create awareness and educate people. This is much more common than you think. I can guarantee each one of you will have 1-2 people in your lives that will have been effected by alopecia before. I have tried most treatments that they offer, but none have been successful. Hair loss can be seen as such an “ugly” thing, and I do feel unattractive because of it, but, I am learning to accept it with the support around me. I am wanting to remove this stigma around hair loss, being seen as an unattractive, ugly, shameful thing. I know one day when I get my strength back I will be comfortable with it, but this is the journey I am on for now, as well as dealing with other health issues. There is no cure for this disease, and no way to tell if it will ever grow back, but the most important thing I can do for now, is try raise some awareness. The more people that know about this disease and can educate themselves, the less people will see it as strange because they might look different. Women lose their hair, so do men. Whether its from alopecia, cancer, female pattern baldness and other conditions/circumstances that may bring on baldness or hair loss. For all the people out there with alopecia and hair loss; be proud of yourself, you are not alone, and you are beautiful. I’m still learning, and taking my own journey day by day. I appreciate being given this opportunity to explain and educate, as well as try raise some money to help me get to where I believe I will be most comfortable with myself and my alopecia