Michael Hoult’s Story

My name is Michael, I am 11 years old and am a level 3 Men’s Artistic Gymnast. I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata when I was 9 years old. My mum and my sister have Alopecia as well. In the beginning, I had a few patches here and there but my hair would come and go, then in 2022 my hair rapidly started to fall out and I lost pretty much my entire head in a couple of weeks. Because I had a few patches I decided to shave my head and I kept it shaved for a little while, this made me feel better about the patchy hair that was growing on and off. My mum shaved her head so we had a fun time and shaved some patterns like lightning bolts into my head while we were shaving it. 

I was super lucky this year and got to compete on behalf of my club which is Sydney Gymnastics Centre at Rooty Hill at The National Clubs Carnival in Queensland. It was amazing competing against other clubs from around Australia and I even scored some personal best scores on some of the apparatuses like pommel and vault. I also qualified and competed at the NSW State Championships this year. My favourite apparatus is the pommel it is the one where you go around in circles on top of the apparatus, you have to try and get 10 circles in a row without stopping. 

When I lost most of my hair my squad and coaches were so supportive. We talked about what was happening to me and it made me feel better when my friends understood what I was going through. One of my favourite things about gymnastics is being on the competition floor with my squad we all cheer one another on and give high fives all the time.

Being sponsored by AAAF for doing what I love makes me feel so special and proud. I am happy to show other kids like me who lose their hair that you can still do your favourite thing without hair. 

I can’t wait to share my achievements with you.

Isabella Hoult’s Story

Hi, my name is Isabella Hoult, I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata when I was 10 years old. My mum and my brother both have Alopecia as well. I am 13 years old and am a competitive gymnast. I am currently doing level 4 Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. The Australian Alopecia Areata Foundation is sponsoring me to do my gymnastics which is amazing. 

I first started losing my hair just before the lockdown in 2020. I have had many patches come and go since then but at one stage I had almost complete hair loss on my head. Whilst this was hard, having my mum and brother going through Alopecia as well helped me to stay strong. I started high school this year, year 7, and that was tough with Alopecia too, but I asked my year leader if I could speak to the whole year about what Alopecia is and what it is like to look different. She said yes and because I spoke so well they then arranged for me to speak to the entire senior school which really helped with how people treated me at school. They no longer thought I was sick and knew what Alopecia was. 

At Gymnastics I am in a squad and we sat down with my coach and squad talking about what it is like to look different and how sometimes we don’t realise the things we say can hurt others. 

This year I qualified for the State Gymnastics Competition which was amazing, and then I competed at State where I achieved some personal best scores and had a great time competing. My favourite thing about Gymnastics is competing, I love being on that floor and performing my routines as well as knowing if there is anyone watching that has something that makes them look different I hope they look at me and think “wow she is out there with her patches competing and not letting her Alopecia stop her”. I want other kids and people to know that Alopecia shouldn’t stop you from doing anything, we are just the same as everyone else and can do everything that everyone else can. 

I am so excited to see where Gymnastics takes me next and look forward to sharing my exciting achievements with you in my next update.

Isabella Hoult

Claudia Notley’s Alopecia Story.

Meet Claudia, she is 11 years old and started losing her hair at the beginning of 2022 at age 10. The hair loss started above her right ear. More patches started appearing around the back of her head from ear to ear. Within 6 months Claudia had lost all her hair followed by her eyebrows and eyelashes. 

This time was very traumatic for Claudia and her family, something that was so aggressive and coming from nowhere really hit the family hard. She started seeing a psychologist straight away and this largely assisted with her coping strategies. Throughout the whole ordeal, Claudia has remained extremely positive and resilient. She has the most amazing group of school friends, family and a cheerleading team.  

During her hair loss journey, Claudia has maintained doing what she loves the most and that is cheerleading. At first, she just wore a beanie as her hair was falling out however progressed to wearing a wig. Her cheerleading team and coach were so supportive during her hair loss, they always made her feel very comfortable and some of them even wore a beanie in support. 

Claudia is a flyer which is the person at the top of the stunts who gets lifted by the team, she has managed with her current lace wig however sometimes feels like it might come off. This makes her a little nervous so we have ordered her a Freedom Wig which will suction-fixate to her head. This will enable her to do all the cartwheels, back handsprings and tumbling whilst feeling totally confident it won’t fly off. She should have the new wig by the end of the year ready for a big year of cheerleading and competition in 2023. 

The unexpected financial strain that the disorder has come with has been a bit of a shock with Dermatologist & Psychologist appointments, medication, wigs & accessories. The Silver sponsorship that has been generously given by the Australian Alopecia Areata Foundation (AAAF) has given Claudia relief and has enabled her to continue doing a sport that she loves so much. This is instrumental to her coping with the disorder and adjusting to her new way of life.

Thank you AAAF!

Piper’s Alopecia Story.

I was diagnosed with alopecia at 7 and a half during a pandemic lockdown. This meant we couldn’t see doctors in person immediately, but we got there eventually. 

My hair started to go in a couple of little patches on the back of my head but then I started to lose it on the top of my head too. My hairline is getting higher and higher and the hair that is left is thin and still going day by day. I don’t have eyelashes or eyebrows and no hair on my arms or legs! My skin is super soft though! 

Seeing my hair suddenly start falling out was a shock at first but at the same time I was still healthy, and my parents told me that none of this was my fault. 

People describe me as a Happy-go-lucky type of girl and say I’m such a chilled-out kid. 

I loved to wear bucket hats before I got alopecia but now, I love them even more. I wear them because I like how they look.  I don’t feel like I need to cover my head and I don’t really want to wear a wig. 

My close friends are so kind and don’t care either. 

I love hanging out with my friends, doing Taekwondo, Hip Hop dancing, playing with my dog and spending time at the beach.  

Ava Lambie – My Alopecia Story

Hello, my name is Ava. I am 11 years old and from the Gold Coast. In 2020 I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata. I felt scared and lonely. I went through several treatments like Clobex which is a type of shampoo. In my thoughts, it did not do anything but make it worse by tangling my hair so when I brushed it pulled more out. I then started another treatment called DCP which is a cream that stops my immune system from attacking my hair. The treatment seemed to work and my hair regrew.  

I went to an Alopecia support group lunch at Harbour Town Shopping Centre and met some really nice people with Alopecia. I felt supported and like I wasn’t alone anymore.  

I decided I wanted to raise money for the AAAF. I made a lemonade stand at my house and my Mum made a Facebook Go Fund Me page. I raised around $1200 which was mind-blowing.  

I went to the Alopecia Camp on the Sunshine Coast in 2021. I met so many new girls and boys with my condition. I felt happy and uplifted when I made new friends and it was just the time of my life, I didn’t feel alone anymore and I was able to be myself. 

After I thought the Alopecia was all gone it came back again this year. I began to lose hair again, most of my eyelashes on my left and some of my eyebrows. I felt insecure and heartbroken. I have tried the DCP cream again and had no luck so far, the doctors put stronger ingredients in the cream to stop it. I also have low iron; it does not help with my daily life as I struggle in class to stay awake and it is difficult to do everyday tasks. Low iron also makes your hair weak and it falls out a bit.  

Since I have had Alopecia, I have been bullied on a few occasions. I was asked all the time what had happened to me or if I had cancer. There was this boy who was just nasty to everyone except to his friends.

I believe that there are always bullies in our lives no matter if we’re tall, small, thin, wide, pretty or ugly. 

I am so excited about this upcoming camp in Sydney, I can’t wait to catch a flight with all of my new friends and hang out again. The only bad thing is I have to wake up at like 4:00am which sucks because I am not a morning person.  

I recently started Silks; it was like a dream come true watching all of the older girls do cool tricks. I am so grateful that the AAAF is helping me with my dream by sponsoring me. It’s just so kind of you and I will strive to do my best and show you my progress. 

Thanks again 

Ava Lambie 

Airlee’s Scholarship Update.

I would like to thank the AAAF for my gold scholarship! This scholarship has paid for my dance classes which are tap, musical theatre and contemporary dance private lessons. Thanks to these, I have improved so much that two months ago I was asked to join the performance team, which means I can now compete in different tournaments starting in August. I got an email last week from the dance studio saying that all the Teachers are so impressed with my dedication and improvement, so I had been selected for the Elite team. This is a dream come true!

At the midyear dance concert, I performed solo on stage. I had never danced by myself before on stage, but I absolutely loved it! When I am on stage, I can forget about everything, dancing is my happy place. 

My favourite days of the week are the days I have dancing in the afternoon. A few years ago, when I lost all my hair during the lockdown, I wouldn’t even go to the mailbox as I didn’t want people to see me and I was so upset, but now, I dance without a wig. I even like that I don’t have to worry about hair getting into my face when dancing.

I am proud of who I am, and my confidence has grown so much through dancing.  I can’t thank the AAAF enough!

Victoria Gandera’s Story Update.

It has been three months since I received the scholarship so here is my update.

It has been a tough couple of months health-wise but hopefully, things will get better now.

This AAAF scholarship has helped me a lot in so many ways. 

To begin with, it helped with my music studies this year. I have learned many new singing techniques to help with my breathing and for holding notes longer. One of these techniques is called the iron gate. This is for when I am doing my counting vocal exercise. It helps save the air that you have in your diaphragm. When you are using the iron gate technique, you say a number, and then you lock all the air back up by closing your mouth.

The other way it helped me is that now I’m able to have more time in the studio with my teacher.

Thanks to that I am able to learn harder songs for my exams now. I have been learning some amazing songs by various artists and from various genres. Some of them are by ABBA, some from musicals, and I have also learned some rock songs by Avril Lavigne and classics by Olivia Newton-John. 

These songs are all part of my preparation for my grade 3 vocal exam, which will be coming soon. I will also be doing another grade at the end of the year which wouldn’t be possible if not for the scholarship – so thank you AAAF for allowing me to have that.

But the biggest benefit to all this is how much I have improved not only in singing but also in how much more focused I am. It is a lot of work to prepare for exams and I had to learn to manage my time better to fit it all in.

I am more focused, but also happier. Singing makes me happy and forget about the little troubles or snarky comments from kids at school about my hair. So I really hope I’ll be able to keep singing for more years to come.

Hopefully, on my next check-in, I can share the results from my vocal performance exam with you all!

Victoria Gandera’s story and sponsorship.

When my Mum first told me that I had gotten the scholarship for my music learning I was so happy, and I was filled with excitement. This scholarship really helped me with my music learning this year because now I can do my singing exam for grades 3 and 4.

In the year 2020, during the first months of the pandemic, I started learning to sing and that was when I had my first Zoom lessons. When I sing, I can relax, and I feel like I don’t need to stress about anything and everything.

I really enjoy singing because I can increase my skills and my techniques to get better and better. I really love singing and I put in a lot of practice to get good at this skill. When I look back at videos of me singing my first ever song I’ve learned, I feel like I have improved so much since then and that all my skills and techniques that I have kept in mind, have helped me get my singing to be much better and well. I am so glad I have gotten that scholarship. My life wouldn’t be the same without music and singing.

The only reason I can do the two grades is the money from the scholarship, which has helped me with my lessons and has made it so that I could learn so much more. When I sing, I can just enjoy the moment.

My mum recorded my performance at the recital, which was organised really quickly. We have helped to prepare to program with the AAAF logo on it and we did those cute tickets, that said that everyone was VIP at our recital. It was the best day and even though I was a bit anxious at the beginning, I enjoyed it a lot.

Just like Victoria, we support many others through their journeys and we help them achieve their dreams. You can find more details about our sponsorships all through our webpage and social media.

Emma’s Alopecia Story

Hi, my name is Emma, and I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata just before my 14^th birthday.

My hair had always been perfect until one morning I woke up and got in the car to drive to school and mum asked me what I had done with my hair. At this stage, it was no more than about 5mm of hair missing from the front of my hairline. The next day it was even bigger, about the size of a 20-cent coin. This is when we decided to book an appointment with the dermatologists. We were extremely lucky, and it turned out they had a cancelation that week.

It was 5 days after the initial piece of hair fell out when I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata. By this point, I had already lost about a 1/8^th of my hair.

We instantly started steroid injections into my scalp, and they started to work. Over the course of about two weeks, I continued to lose hair rapidly until over a quarter of my head was bald and my hair had thinned drastically. At this point, we were told that I was most likely going to lose all my hair and that we should start looking into wigs.

One week later, I shaved what was left of my hair and donated it to help others with alopecia.

My hair loss slowed right down, and it eventually stopped. After a few months, I had some hair regrowth on my head. When things finally looked like they were getting better I suddenly lost all my eyebrows over a period of 3 days. This was exceptionally traumatic. We turned to henna to create the illusions of eyebrows for a few months before they eventually began to grow back. While I still have bald patches on both my head and my eyebrows, I have hope that one day they might grow back.

Emma is a very talented dancer that has been training for most of her life. She also is one of our recipients of the AAAF gold level Sponsorship Program which has allowed her to pursue her dancing. For more information about the sponsorship program click here.

Alex’s Sponsorship Update 2

My Bridgeneering lessons are finished and it was really really super great.  There was nothing about it that I didn’t like – the whole thing was the best.  If I could make one of the bridges in real life, I would make the Tower Bridge.  It’s a bascule and suspension bridge.  That means it has parts that go up and down like a drawbridge.  I also made the Story Bridge that’s a cantilever bridge; the Sydney Harbour Bridge which is an arch bridge; and a beam bridge.  I think the bridge we go over to Redcliffe is a beam bridge – it’s long and flat.

For the beam bridge, it was so long it went from one wall of the classroom to the other and the whole class worked on it together.  For the other bridges, we worked in pairs.  Everyone there was really kind and funny and everyone just love building bridges so we all worked really well together.  We all liked the same things as each other so everyone got on really well.

My favourite person was the teacher, Justin.  He knows so many interesting things and I just love learning from him.

When I grow up I want to design and build bridges but I also want to do all the other types of engineering too!  Thanks AAAF for sending me to Bridgeneering!