Teen turns her challenge into an opportunity

Published 10:46 pm Thursday, January 15, 2009

GRANITE FALLS — Tessa Romack laughed the day she had her head shaved.

Jim Romack didn’t want his daughter to go it alone, so he had his hair shorn as well.

They held hands as their hair fell from follicles to floor.

“Dad looked so funny,” Tessa recalled. “I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Tessa has alopecia areata, an uncommon autoimmune disease that causes about 450,000 Americans to lose patches, and in some cases, all of their hair. It can happen at any time in life.

“It’s like an allergy where my skin is allergic to the hair I grow,” Tessa explained.

The sophomore at Granite Falls High School may have laughed with her dad that Saturday last February in a Lake Stevens hair salon, but she was scared to go to church that Sunday and school on Monday as the bald kid on campus.

She had struggled with the condition since the seventh grade when her eye lashes mysteriously started falling out.

Weeks later, she wiped off most of her eyebrows as she washed her face.

Later, the hair on her head came out in clumps.

It took time and tests, from eye exams to biopsies, to discover what was happening.

Finally, a dermatologist at Seattle Children’s hospital broke the news to Tessa and explained that alopecia areata has no treatment.

The patches grew bigger and harder to conceal.

Tessa decided last February it was time to shave her head. She explained her condition to each of her classes and told her classmates she would look different when she came back to school on Monday.

In some ways, the decision was a huge relief.

For the first time, she felt she was in control.

“It was one of the hardest moments and it was one of the best moments,” she said. “Before that, I was letting the anxiety and stress of it get to me. I was wondering, when? When will my hair fall out? When I made the choice, I wiped out the stress of when it was going to happen.”

For the most part, Tessa, 16, has found acceptance from her peers, particularly in her leadership class.

Just as her father sat beside her last February, classmates have provided moral support.

A year ago, some offered to shave their heads, too.

Tessa told them to wait. She needed to think about how she could make something good happen from her ordeal.

Today, they will have a chance to show their solidarity.

She has organized a fundraiser for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Bracelets will be sold for $2 and, for the more adventuresome, heads will be shaved for $5.

Jacob Howard plans to lose his locks this afternoon and has been recruiting other students to do the same.

The Granite Falls senior said he admires Tessa’s spirit and the example she sets for others.

“She has handled it really well,” he said. “When people say bad stuff, she just doesn’t let it get to her. I love Tessa.”

Rose Livermore, another senior, said she has prayed with her friend and has watched her grow through the experience.

“When she did shave her head, there were kids in her classes who were shocked,” she said. “But she wasn’t alone in it. If you did say something mean, you were the one looked down on. Everyone was supporting Tessa.”

Granite Falls High School Principal Eric Cahan plans to join the queue to get his head shaved today.

He said Tessa has endured her condition with dignity and a smile.

“She has made some difficult decisions in her life that will make her better,” he said. “She is such a special girl.”

Tessa still thumbs through fashion magazines and misses brushing her dark brown hair, but she doesn’t dwell or complain.

Some day her hair may grow back, but there are no guarantees.

If anything, the experience has helped her relate more to the struggles of other teenagers who are just trying to grow up, she said.

“Everybody is going through something,” she said. “It’s just less visible.”

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.

Fundraiser today

High school students and others around Granite Falls can buy bracelets and have their heads shaved today as part of a fundraiser for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

The event from 2:30 to 4:30 this afternoon will be at Granite Falls High School, 1401 100th St. NE.

It is being organized by Tessa Romack, a sophomore at the school who has the autoimmune condition that causes her to lose her hair.