CAP - Children's Alopecia Project

Throughout all of this annoyance and torment, we were looking for something...anything that could just make us feel like others knew what we were going through.  Don't get me wrong, the support of family and friends was and has been completely amazing and appreciated!  But to know that someone else understands what you are going through is an entirely different thing.

We stumbled upon the Children's Alopecia Project.

A group dedicated to supporting children with alopecia by building up their self esteem and providing them the opportunity to speak with and meet with other children with alopecia.  Great!  Though Cole was/is young, we really needed to talk to other parents who understood this.  It has been so helpful.  If you or anyone you know has a child going through this, it is an amazing group!  They have chapters around the country.  Even if it is somewhat far from you, you can at least join their Facebook group and talk to others.  It was a while after diagnosis that we found CAP, but it really is just a completely supportive environment. 

There are a lot of routes you can take when it comes to treatments with alopecia.  From doing absolutely nothing [which is what we are doing] to doing acid treatments, and even steroid injections.  Because alopecia is a disease that is not widely researched and in reality, they do not know why it happens, it is super helpful to speak to other parents/patients that have gone through this.  If you have read back in my blog, you will know that we went to Children's Floating Hospital at Tufts in Boston and got literally no answer.  Not even a diagnosis.  Fortunately for us, we live in an area where we have a lot of choices on hospitals.  But some people aren't as fortunate and get one answer and are stuck with that answer.  That is another reason why CAP is so helpful.  There are so many answers to one problem and not everyone has access to those answers.

Once Cole is older, I know he will find himself happy in the presence of other children with his condition and not so alone in his thoughts and burdens!

Though, at 2, how many burdens can you have, really?  :]