Jessi’s new hair and eyebrows- Alopecia

What happened

I am trying to raise money to buy my 15 year old daughter Jessi, a wig and to get her eyebrows tattooed.

On the 11/05/2020 my daughters hair suddenly felt like it was burning and started falling out from the middle of her head. By the evening she had lost hair the size of your fingernail.  The next morning her pillow was covered with hair. The bald patch was much bigger, and spreading along her parting. By Wednesday most of the hair from the top of her head had fallen out and she had also lost her eyebrows.

She was diagnosed on the Wednesday with aggressive Alopecia Areata by an emergency dermatologist. By Wednesday night my daughter was very depressed and extremely traumatised. I’ve never seen her so low. She was hiding the fallen hair as she couldn’t stand dealing with it. She was terrified of how quickly she was losing it and how much would fall out.  She now had a thick stripe through the center of her head, large patches either side of her head, and patches at the back. She made the extremely courageous decision to shave the remaining hair from her head. We all hugged and cried and supported her as it all came out. In just two days she had gone from having a full head hair to no hair. 

What is Alopecia 

Alopecia Areata is an auto immune disease, that causes the body to attack its own healthy cells- in this case, her hair follicles. There is no cure.

We were encouraged for a few days as Jessi started having regrowth in the bald areas, but unfortunately the new hair snapped off. We don’t know what the future has in store for Jessi’s hair. This disease is uncertain. She may regrow hair, it may keep snapping, or she could lose it all. The hair loss episodes can be triggered by anything and the doctors don’t know what causes it.

Jessi’s hair loss has unfortunately come with mental but also physical pain. She gets a severe burning sensation on her scalp, and the area becomes very swollen and spongy and then the hair falls out. She has been prescribed dry strong Steroids and it can slow the hair loss and inflammation but this is not a permanent solution. 

New eyebrows and wigs.

We have done some research and found a great company in Knightsbridge, London who are happy to give her tattooed eyebrows with doctors consent, underage as she has Alopecia. The cost is around £450 for her first treatment. We have also found some amazing wig systems that can be worn for school and sport.
She can also wear them to sleep in at friends sleepovers and even swim in!
They are unfortunately very expensive. They range in cost from £1000-£3,500, and of course do not last forever. Most wigs made from human hair last for betweeen 1 year and 3 years depending on the type of wig.

I want to be able to get this for her as 15 is such an impressionable age. I fear for how children will react to her at school. I fear what this will do to her mental health, and want to give her back what we all take for granted.

Irish Dancing

Some of you may know Jessi, and know that she loves her Irish dancing. She dances 4 nights a week and loves competing. She has travelled all over the UK to compete. The girls wear very elaborate wigs to dance in. We feel at this time that Jessi will be unable to wear these types of wig any longer, and are still talking about what she’ll be able to do as far as competing. One thing we are sure of is that this horrible disease will not stop her from doing the thing she loves most. 

How you can help

I am very conscious of not wanting to ask for help from other people, however my pride for now is not as important as Jessi’s happiness. I know that some people have asked how they can help and if they could give Jessi some money towards a wig, so I wanted to set this up so they can donate through here and also so we can update people on here when Jessi gets her new hair. 

Jessi continues to be incredibly brave and I am in awe of how strong she has been through this. I want to shout from the rooftops how proud I am of her. 

Thankyou if you took the time to read this. I really appreciate it from the absolute bottom of my heart and would really appreciate it if you could share this page on your socialmedia.