Yo.

As I'm guessing many of you who are visiting this page realise, I lost about 80% of my hair about a year and a half ago. While its not a life threatening condition at all, it knocks you back - big time. 

Its quite hard to explain to someone who hasn't gone through it, how much of an impact it can have on your day-to-day life. Things like going out to the shops become an almost impossible task. If you catch eyes with someone for slightly too long, you assume their looking at you because of your shiny bald head. Going on a night out in the town becomes akin to an obsticle course of avoiding glares from other people - rather than enjoying yourself.

Alopecia is (at least, this is what the clever scientists think - no one really knows for certain) a auto-immune condition. In its simple form, they believe that your body starts to believe the hair on your body isn't friendly, and the body begins to fight it off - causing the baldness. Finding cures for auto-immune diseases is hard, so while I'm probably not raising money to find a cure, I'm raising money for a community of people who really help when things get you down.

I always have regretted not raising money for charity when I shaved my hair off, so here is my chance to put that right. I am running a half marathon in aid of Alopecia UK. Alopecia UK provides an excellent fountain of knowledge and a fantastic community for those with all kinds of hair loss, no matter how big or how small. They arrange meetups, they keep sufferers up to date with the latest information on the disease, and they can help put you on the track to find inner peace with the disease. It has helped me immensely throughout my time of coping with the disease, and I know for a fact it has helped MANY others.

So please, if you have a few quid lying around, please don't be afraid to chuck it in their direction.

Cheers!

Sam

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