2 Families Join to Overcome Alopecia

HOUSTON - "Sometimes it hurt my feelings," remembers Johnathan Tucker.

At first, you may not think Johnathan and 10-year-old Elizabeth Magee have much in common, but you would be wrong.

They are the same age, attend the same church, are both the older sibling of a younger brother and are bound together by a condition most people have never heard of.

"It's a very misunderstood disease. I remember times in our past when we would go into a Chuck E. Cheese or a place like that, people would look at us as if she had cancer," describes Elizabeth's father, Jeff Magee.

Elizabeth has a form of Alopecia Areata which causes the hair on her head to fall out.

"At one point it was very much, it was the whole top of my head, but other times it'd be like two little circles or one little patch above my ear" she describes.

Elizabeth's mother, Jennifer said, "We never know when she's going to have hair loss, to what extent and will it grow back because it cycles throughout her life."

Alopecia occurs when white blood cells view hair follicles as the enemy and attack them.

For Tucker, it is a total loss of hair that will likely not grow back.

"I felt like I was the only person on earth that had it and all of a sudden then I heard someone at our church had it."

His condition surfaced in first grade. "Since then he has lost the hair on his head and the rest of his body, so he doesn't have eyebrows he has some eyelashes left but no hair on his arms and legs," says his mother, Beverly Tucker.

These otherwise healthy, intelligent children take it in stride.
Alopecia Areata may have taken away some hair follicles ... but it has given them a wisdom beyond their years.

"You appreciate them for their insides, who they really are and not just how they look on the outside" Elizabeth tells FOX 26 anchor Pattie Shieh.

It is a lesson their parents hope others will learn when the International Alopecia Areata Conference comes to Houston in June. As part of that 4-day event, the Tuckers and Magees are co-chairing the Tortoise and Hair 5K and 1K run-walk in downtown Houston on Saturday, June 27.

-- Register for Houston Tortoise and Hair 5K Run/1 Mile Walk: http://houstonnaaf5k.wordpress.com/