Yesterday I interviewed a very inspirational woman from right here in South Dakota. Her name is Chris Mager Wevik and she wrote the book "It's Only Hair: hair loss help and humor." The book follows Chris as she learns how to live with alopecia. Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that causes baldness, where the body mistakenly fights off hair like an allergy. So Chris is completely bald, and in her book she offers support, humor, and understanding for women who are also dealing with hair loss.
I found my interview with Chris to be very helpful. It was nice to talk to a woman who is also dealing with hair loss herself. I think at times our society put so much stress on physical appearance, hair included, that without your hair framing your face you feel out of place. Even if people are not looking, you feel as if someone is staring at your head. The key though is to develop self-confidence, where you choose to look and act the way you want.
I know growing up I always had long hair all throughout high school and college. I was known for my hair and it was always the first thing everyone noticed about me. I can remember when I interned at KABC in Los Angeles, I was known as the intern with the really, really long hair. Sure I wanted to be recognized as the intern who is a good journalist, but at that time, in the number two market in the country, I was just happy to be recognized at all!!!! So I think this type of recognition made it hard for me to lose my hair.
However, its kind of funny, now that I'm bald I have accepted the fact and I don't tend to dwell on it too much. I know this is just a slight bump in the road for me, and in the end I will be a stronger person. I'm grateful that this is only temporary, and my heart goes out to Chris and other alopecia patients who will have to deal with hair loss for the rest of their lives. Learning to march to your own drum can be tough in today's society.
So stay tuned to my story with Chris. I'll be putting together a piece that will run on KDLT and I'll make sure to post it here on my blog.
Danielle
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Now you can be known as the spunky, hard working one that never lets anything get her down. Much better than to be defined by something as silly as hair! And this coming from someone who used to be known as the girl with the spikey, weird-colored hair! All that you need to worry about is that you're beautiful, inside and out, and there's no way a bunch of dead skin cells on top of your head can ever change that. Keep that head up girly! Miss you! :)
ReplyDeleteHELLO DANIELLE DUPUY! YOU WILL END UP SOOOOO... STRONG IN SUCH A NICE WAY!
ReplyDeleteI MUST TELL YOU....I MET A GIRL AT THE HUNTSMAN CENTER IN SLC. THIS 10 YEAR OLD GIRL HAD ALREADY LOST ALL OF HER HAIR WHEN WE MET. SHE IS THE MOST DELIGHTFUL AND WONDERFUL LITTLE GIRL YOU COULD KNOW. WHEN I SAW HER AGAIN AFTER ALL HER TREATMENTS, SOMETHING SEEMED STRANGE ABOUT HER. YES.........SHE HAD HAIR! HAIR, OR NO HAIR, THERE WAS THAT WONDERFUL LITTLE SOUL YOU JUST CAN'T MISS. REALLY THE HAIR WAS NOTHING MORE THAN THE ICING ON THE CAKE AND AS YOU KNOW....ANGEL FOOD CAKE IS PRETTY DARN POPULAR!
HANG IN THERE,YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!
I'm glad to see you're not getting hung up too much on what's on top of your head. We all know it's what's IN your head that matters! I keep tuning in, hoping to catch your reports.... Can't wait for you to get back to us viewers! Stay strong!!!!!
ReplyDelete