Submitted photo / Kym Georget

By Joanie Olson

Hair Hopes

Son cuts mom’s hair to raise awareness for alopecia areata

May 13, 2021 | 2:23 PM

A young boy’s mom is doing what she can to help her son cope with having an autoimmune disease.

Kym Georget is raising funds and awareness in support of her eight-year-old child. Cohen Georget has been dealing with the effects of alopecia areata since he was just six years old.

Alopecia areata is not a widely known disorder and results in unpredictable hair loss. In most cases, the disorder causes hair to fall out in small patches around the size of a quarter and hair loss of no more than a few patches. However, it can be more extreme. For Cohen, it has led to complete loss of hair on his scalp. More severe cases have hair loss affecting the entire body.

Kym Georget said she started a small fundraiser for Wigs for Kids Canada because her son has alopecia. She had explained it to Cohen, and being curious, he asked if they could raise funds for her wig to be made into a wig for another child.

“For Cohen, I actually went on May 5 and Cohen cut 14 inches of my hair off at the hairdressers,” she said. “We are going to send my hair in to make wigs for kids.”

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Wigs for Kids provides wigs made of human hair to children with hair loss due to chemotherapy and radiation treatments, alopecia, trichotillomania, burns and other medical reasons. Wigs for Kids has helped more than 400 children in Canada. It takes 15 to 28 ponytails to produce a single wig and the cost is up to $1,800 to produce. It takes 30 to 40 hours to finish a single wig and then Wigs for Kids give them to the child for free.

Kym said although Cohen is not sick, having alopecia is not necessarily easy.

“A lot of people don’t understand why he looks different and why he doesn’t have hair and he gets a lot of stares and rude comments,” Kym said. “So just being able to raise awareness and be able to donate the hair and make a wig for someone else makes them feel better about themselves.”

Cohen said he is happy his mom is doing the fundraiser and shared how not having hair can be a challenge.

“It’s sad when there is some stuff at school like days that you dress up. I like to turn my hair into something fancy, but I can’t now,” Cohen said.

Cohen is planning on getting a wig of his own in the future and shows wisdom beyond his years. He offers a very worthwhile piece of advice, “don’t bully and be nice.”

People can donate and offer support by going through Kym’s Facebook page, Kym’s Fundraiser for Wigs For Kids and so far raised $795 of the $1,800 goal. Another option to support Cohen and others like himself would be to donate hair. She is accepting cash and etransfer donations as well to be forwarded to Wigs for Canada.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow