Alopecia Fundraiser

As many of you know I lost my hair on Christmas Eve due to Alopecia Totalis. This is an auto-immune disease and there is a possibility I may never get my hair back. However I have an opportunity to see a specialist and have a 30%-40% chance of being cured. Insurance will not pay for it and the cost will be about $3,000. I am selling wristbands to help raise money. The bracelets are orange with "Inspiration" inscripted on them and I am selling them for $2 each. Thank you for your support.

<-- The bracelets will look somewhat like this.

A Special Thank You :)

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been there for me lately. For everyone who has donated their hair, it means so much to me! Thanks to My Uncle Rex and Kat for the beautiful flowers! Allyson Wall for the surprise pictures, And Dale Simmons for the awesome ride in the Cobra :) And anyone else I have failed to mention. You guys all mean so much to me! I love you! Thanks for everything.

Sadies :)

I went to Sadies back in March but I just barely got the pictures from it so I decided to Blog them :) Sadies was so much fun! My date Ben Williams is so sweet! Our outfits are the Bomb! He picked out the red jeans :) I like them! At first I was a little worried, I didn't think he would want to go with me (I was a little worried about the hair situation) But in the end it worked out great! Here's a little about what we did on the date, First we went and got pictures taken at a placed called the Art Gallery down by the Strip. Its amazing! Graffiti everywhere! Then we went to Carolines house and had Canes (The best chicken ever) in a tent we made the day before :) Next we went ice skating I had a lot of fun! I've never really realized how much fun ice skating is until then. From there we went to a place called Pump it Up, Its a big room of a bunch of blow-up bouncy houses that we had rented out for just our group. It was fun but I had to take off my wig... It was a little embarrassing at first but I still had fun. I had a great time at Sadies and I can't wait till next year!!

On the Plus Side

My bestie Steph :)
My cousin Spence and I

My niece Abigail and I

Allyson Wall took me out on a surprise

photoshoot! It was so much fun :)

1) I don't have to take my ring off before I get in the shower. I used to do it because I lost so much hair and it would get stuck in my ring. Now I don't have any hair to get stuck in my ring. (Its a big deal to me okay!)

2) I don't have to pack my flat iron, curling iron, hair products, and blowdryer (that i just got for christmas) when we go on trips. All I need is a brush, shampoo and conditioner (yes, I still use it) and my wig(s).
3) It takes me a third of the time to get ready from start to finish. So I can sleep in longer.

4) I always get told I have a perfect shaped head, It makes me sorta proud of my head. Not like I did anything special to make it that way, but still.

5) I wouldn't say that I wouldn't have a bad hair day because the wigs look bad somedays and I feel like just going bald, but someone always talks me out of it. But I can say that I can change my style everyday.

6) The shower drain doesn't get clogged anymore :)

7) I don't have to shave my legs (patches on my legs) anymore.

8) And I not afraid to joke about it. It used to bother me but not anymore!

Song of the week: Pray by Justin Bieber :)

I can honestly say that if you bought me a shirt with his face on it I would wear it as much as I wear my batman shirt. I don't think he's cute, But I really like his songs.

Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game

Linda and I after I shaved my head

1/13/11

My wig

My mom and I

I love her!!

The little bit of hair we shaved off

The back of my head BEFORE we

had shaved it.

My mommy and I

Earlier this year when I started loosing my hair my parents asked if I wanted to go wig shopping I quickly denied. I didn't want to resort to a wig ever. It just wouldn't be the same as my real hair. But when you loose your hair to the point where you cant cover it up at all...What are you supposed to do? So on Tuesday I finally gave in. I love my wig! But don't get me wrong there are days where I miss my short thin hair... After we found a wig I decided to shave everything but my bangs off (which was not much) so that I could wear my hats if I wanted to. I cried.. You always hear the girls that say "I just want to shave my head!!" But when your hair grows back I guess thats no big deal. When it doesn't; like mine, It was super hard. I wouldn't take a picture with out the wig on and even at that I didn't like taking pictures, or looking in the mirrors. It was yesterday that I finally took a picture and shaved the rest off. My oldest sister Linda loves kissing my head! She's so funny. My other sister Ali likes the feeling of it. I have to admit it feels pretty cool.

The next story I am going to tell is called: Sisterly love :)

One day when my mom came home from work she asked me what I thought about her, Linda, and Ali all shaving their heads so I wouldn't feel alone. I then explained to her that I love their hair and I don't want attention drawn to our family with of us having shaved heads, I also said that if Ali (who tans alot!!) had shaved her head that she would have to go get a spray tan on her head so that she wouldn't look funny. So in return so last weekend we were at the Titanic Museum. In a glass case they had a little brush with 3 bristles left on it, Ali called me over to where she was and said "Rachael I have a brush you can use!" So now we are even!

Everyone has their own trials to overcome, you're given them because he knows you are capable of overcoming them.

<--I Don't know if you can tell how thin it is on the right side of the picture because the flower is covering it up.

Below: My new hats

Above: My not so much of a part :/

Below: The back of my head, my neck is at the bottom of the picture just

My new hair style that I can't

even do

anymore.

It all came back Christmas Eve day. I don't know if you knew I have a condition called Alopecia Areata. Alopecia Areata is a conditon that causes round patches of hair loss. I have had it since the age of 4, I wouldn't say that it comes and goes but i've always had a bald spot somewhere. On christmas eve I got in the shower and i got out shortly after covered in hair the hair balls were the size of my hand. There were only a few strands left with my longer hair so I had to cut it; I cried, but it was something I had to do to make it look like it was thicker. I haven't had this much fall out ever before; that I remember of anyway. Ever since then I've had hair balls that big everyday. It has been so hard for me to overcome. But nothing has been easy lately. Tuesday this week i went to school with my hair straight as always but I was so self concious; Its not that I don't want people seeing it but I don't want to scare anyone. So I asked my mom to call the school and get permission to were hats to cover it up. I've worn the hats the past two days, and I've gotten alot of compliments on them but they itch and its not the same as your real hair.. On the bright side I can get up 30 minutes than usual. But I sorta feel like as much hair that is falling out when I take off my hat and bruch my hair; that the hats pressure to my hair because alot of hair is falling out. But right now I am on a remedy that the acupunctureist gave me so i'll keep you posted.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -Winston Churchill

" You've done it before and you can do it now. See the possitive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into postitive, effective, unstoppable determination." -Ralph Marston