Lived Through This

It’s Not Just Hair

My family’s battle with alopecia

For most of my adult life, I have aligned my physical identity as someone with fantastic hair.

My college friends had a running joke. The pantheon of all-time great hair list:

1.) Farrah Fawcett
2.) Patrick Swayze
3.) Jeff Sample

That’s it. That’s the list.

As a male, hair loss is expected. As much as I hoped to keep those luscious locks, I’m a pragmatist at heart, bound by the rules of logic and science.

Science says I lose.

The Beginning

In March of 2018, I was battling a particularly stressful period of my life. My mother was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. My new career in Management Consulting had me traveling across the country every week, meaning I was gone five days a week and barely got to see my fiancee. That travel then triggered a bout of pneumonia, leaving me stranded in Denver with a high-grade fever, paralyzing chills, and alone.