David & I met Abigail's mom, Olenda, 23 years ago when she & David were stationed at Barksdale AFB, LA where they were serving in the US Air Force. Once David, Ethan & I moved to Germany we lost touch, but through the magic of FB we've been reconnected! Olenda & her husband, Raf, are both now retired from the
military and Raf is now a police officer in Abilene, TX. They have four beautiful children Tori, Trey, Abigail, & Michael. Their 10 year old, Abigail, was recently diagnosed with Alopecia. Olenda wrote a little bit about Abi's story:"Abigail is 10 years old. Loves to take care of little kids, play volleyball and organize anything. She is sweet, kind and funny. She has alopecia. Alopecia is a condition that causes a person's hair to fall out. It is an autoimmune disease; which means the person's immune system attacks their own body. In this case, their hair follicles. When this happens, the person's hair begins to fall out, often in clumps. The extent of the hair loss varies from a few spots to total hair loss. As of right now, Abigail has lost all of the hair on her head and has started losing a few eyelashes and eyebrows. Her dad has alopecia areata universalis, which means he has no hair on his entire body. It is possible Abigail has this kind as well but only time will tell.
On April 5th I noticed a small patch of hair missing after volleyball practice. Raf and I immediately knew what it probably was. We took her to a pediatrician and then to a dermatologist for confirmation. They tried giving her steroid shots in her skull but she couldn't take the pain and begged and cried for the doctor to stop so I finally said we are done. No more. We also have creams with steroids but even the doctor said they don't have a good track record of working out. The doctors said it would take 2-10 months for all of her hair to fall out but by May 9th, she had lost 75% of her hair; so that morning, while getting ready for school she asked if she could please get her head shaved so she could save the little bit that was left. On Thursday, May 12th, Abigail had her head shaved and has been sporting the bald is beautiful look ever since. At first she thought she didn't really need or want a wig, but now it's almost been a month with no hair and there are days during school that she would say she misses having hair, or I wish I had hair so I could do this or that.
Abigail tells people that everyone is special but she is now extra special. She told me that she thinks God allowed this to happen to her bc he knew she could handle it and she can bless others who don't handle it well by letting them know it's going to be ok."

Precious girl!
So, this is why we're here. Yesterday, they had an appointment to try on wigs. After necessary supplies, their quote was over $12,000!! (I've upped the goal to $14,000 to help cover the almost 10% GoFundMe fees). Many people suggested Olenda start a GoFundMe acct, but the truth is, she & Raf would never ask, so I'm asking for them. They were trying to figure out how many extra shifts he'd have to work.
We want Abi to have her new hair by the time school starts in August (if not sooner)!!

Thanks so much for your donation & I know Raf, Olenda, & Abi really appreciate it!!