Sarah's off on a mission to help

Jun 27 2010 by Kerry Wood, Sunday Sun

WHEN radio presenter Sarah Knapper’s hair began falling out in huge clumps, she knew it would change her life forever.

But she’s hoping it will be a change for the better as she embarks on a fundraising campaign to help disadvantaged schoolchildren living in Africa.

Determined not to be beaten by alopecia, a condition causing complete baldness in extreme cases, the 26-year-old set up Team Alopecia, a support group for other sufferers.

After two years together, the group is spreading its wings and taking its support overseas with an inspirational six-year project to help change the lives of some of the poorest children in Africa.

Sarah, who also teaches teenagers with special needs, started to see her thick, dark hair begin to thin after suffering anorexia as a teenager.

She said: “My hair didn’t fall out straight away at first but gradually thinned over about seven years.

“But alopecia can be a condition that strikes so suddenly it can destroy a person’s confidence overnight. I would speak about having had anorexia, but I’d never admit to having alopecia.

“I thought if I’m feeling embarrassed, ashamed and unattractive then maybe there are other women out there who feel the same and I started to try and raise the issue in my job as a radio presenter.”

Having launched her support group in 2008 Sarah now has 25 members of Team Alopecia from across the region who meet once a month at Lickety Split ice cream parlour in Seaham, County Durham.

The group came up with the idea of heading to Africa as a way of building up their confidence.

Sarah added: “With a lot of alopecia cases people can fall into depression.

“No one knows exactly what causes it, but it seems to be linked to stress.

“It is a vicious circle as people get sad because their hair is falling out and then their hair falls out because they are sad. We wanted to try and break this cycle.”

The group has now signed up to support Steve Cram’s COCO charity, working with schoolchildren in Tanzania, and this September a team member will be flying to the village of Mahida near Mount Kilimanjaro, where they will work on a nursery school, a dormitory for children and water harvesting projects.

With their September goal, Team Alopecia are starting to raise the £10,000 needed for their six-year project.

Sarah, whose hair is starting to grow back after sessions with a hypnotherapist, said: “The charity has offered us a fantastic opportunity to send one of our girls to work on something that will allow them to help change the lives of others and, perhaps, to change their own lives in the process.

“For us, nothing could be more empowering than to see the world through eyes of people who have so much less than us. My own hair has started to grow back recently.”

As part of their fundraising efforts, the girls are taking part in a forthcoming Lost event, which sees teams of five compete against each other and the clock in a Treasure Hunt-style race to solve clues to a secret destination.

Specialist wig-maker Neville Ramsay, who runs a hair salon in Sunderland, has pledged to support Team Alopecia by encouraging customers to form Lost teams. Neville, who makes wigs for Sarah, said: “For a woman to lose her hair is to lose her crowning glory. This is a new way for these women to find a new crowning glory to their lives.”

Set up in 2000 COCO raises money to help fund children’s projects in developing countries.

For more information about the lost day visit www.lostevents.org with the event code 040910.

To contact the Team Alopecia support group, email Sarah at Sarah_Knapper@ymail.com