Running for a cause

Angie Hegge is going the distance... literally! She is getting sponsors and donations all in efforts to help raise money for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

In alopecia areata, the affected hair follicles are mistakenly attacked by a person's own immune system (white blood cells), resulting in the arrest of the hair growth stage. Alopecia areata usually starts with one or more small, round, smooth bald patches on the scalp and can progress to total scalp hair loss (alopecia totalis) or complete body hair loss (alopecia universalis).

Angie suffers from alopecia areata herself, but luckily right now it isn't as bad as it could potentially be. For Tampa to Miami, Angie will be embarking on a 2-3 week long journey on the first of May starting at the entrance of the University of South Florida in Tampa and will running over 300 miles down across Florida to her destination at South Beach in Miami. Along with raising money before May 1st, Angie will be searching for more donations throughout her run for the Alopecia cause!

During her time out on the road, Angie will be stopping to eat, sleep, and of course when nature calls! If you would like to help her with a place to sleep, some food for her tummy, or for just a cup of coffee while she is on her journey, please visit the Sponsor/Donate page.

Help alopecia awareness! Spread the knowledge and learn something new! =)

Angie will be keeping the public up to date before, after, and during her journey! So keep a look out for new blog posts and updates to the website!

****Join the TAMPA TO MIAMI FACEBOOK and MYSPACE groups! Go to the Angie's Blog page and look under the Links section.****


>>In this video, meet 18 year old Kylie. Listen to what she has to say.


Note from Angie

Hey everyone! Alright, so this is my project, and it's not a little side project... it's a BIG one. One that I hope will make an impact publicly. When you see somebody walking past you and you notice that they have half of their hair missing, or no eyebrows, or absolutely no hair on their head at all, what's the first thing that you think of? That they have some sort of disease and maybe even have cancer. Either that or you will just stare in awkward silence wondering what the heck is wrong with this person. Try being that person with the disease. Every day is a struggle for them. They have to go out in public and face the reality of people looking at them everywhere they go. It's not normal to see someone with giant patches of hair missing from their head. It's called alopecia areata. It's uncomfortable, mentally stressful, and heartbreaking. Imagine being a girl with alopecia. You are surrounded by other girls all with a head full of hair, and you hear these girls complaining that they can't get their hair perfectly straight... they're curls are frizzing a little... or that they just don't know how to style it. Girls suffering from alopecia would give ANYTHING to have your hair. Their confidence and self esteem aren't what they should be, and they have no one that can relate to them. This is a serious cause that I would love to help out, mainly because I have alopecia myself. Over the past year I have been steadily losing my hair in chunks from my head. It's getting harder and harder to cover all the spots now, and so I must face reality and publicly accept it. There is no cure to alopecia, and doctors don't even know the reasoning behind why it happens to people. Please take the time to gain some knowledge about alopecia is. Help spread the knowledge and help let those with alopecia know that they are the same as everyone else and shouldn't be ashamed of how they look. Everyone is beautiful, and you should know that.
Cheers!






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