A stranger grabbed both arms

I know I haven't posted anything on here in a while but I just wanted to share this encounter with you all.

This past weekend my boyfriend and I drove to Tampa to go visit my mom. While there we also drove to Venice, FL to go see my boyfriend's grandparents, who he doesn't get to see very often and I had never met. They had taken us out to dinner at this place called The Italian Club. Members of the club prepare dinner every Friday night. While they have a small selection of dishes, the food was pretty good. When we got there we had told them how many of us there was and we were waiting for my bf's grandma to pay upfront for the meal. This man came up to me and grabbed both my arms. My first thought was whatever he says my response will be "No, I don't have cancer, I have alopecia." Currently I am working in retail and I swear I have to explain it to at least one person every day I work. To my surprise, he had asked me if I have alopecia. I just kind of smiled and said, "yes, I do." He explained that his daughter has alopeica and told me a little about her. After that I didn't see him for the rest of the night.

I was just so happy that someone actually knew what alopecia was and I didn't have to explain that I don't have cancer and I am healthy. This man is one of the few people in the 7 years I've had alopecia that actually knew what it was and confronted me about it. Its so nice to know there are people out there that understand.

Views: 19

Comment by Karen Smith on August 23, 2010 at 10:02am
I am interested in your reaction. I have noticed people in public and have wanted to ask because it would be so nice to meet someone in person with this condition. I have never been sure how it would be received so I did not approach them. This makes me think it would have been ok.
Comment by Connie - Chris' Mom on August 23, 2010 at 11:17am
A couple of weeks ago my son and I went to the Harvest Crusade at Anaheim Stadium. There we about 50,000 people there, and while waiting in line a teenage girl came up to my son and asked if he had alopecia. I looked up to see that she had a shaven head and the tell-tale spots we all know too well. She was excited to find another teen with alopecia - she'd had it for 7 years and my son was only the second boy she'd seen with it. My son was surprised and a bit embarrassed (he didn't think anyone could tell since he was wearing a hat) but also felt a bit comforted finally seeing someone else with the same condition. Although I had shown him pictures of people on AW, he had never seen someone "in person". It was so nice to see someone so open and wanting to connect. We then also had to explain what alopecia was to all of the curious people around us in line! All in all I think it was a very positive experience.
Comment by Mary on August 23, 2010 at 2:34pm
Wonderful story! As more and more women with AA go OUT in public, people will learn not to automatically assume we have cancer.
Comment by Rachel on August 25, 2010 at 12:55am
this happened to me at a concert a couple of weeks ago. I had the same thought as well that this random girl would assume i had cancer when she came up to me but it turned out that she alopecia as well and her hair had grown back she had told me.

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