My wife Chelsey has alopecia. It’s something she didn’t expect and certainly something that she’s apprehensive about sharing. One day she woke up and found a bald patch on her head, completely out of the blue and it began from there, without warning and it brought her to her knees.

I, as a husband have never felt so helpless. I obviously have a very limited amount of hair on my head and regularly shave what I do have! But for a woman, I know your hair is a huge part of who you are. I can’t bring back what’s lost and I can’t find a cure but I can raise awareness to something that can change your life in a heartbeat.

Anybody who knows Chelsey, will understand how much this will have affected her, but also how tough and determined she is not to let this define her.

September is Alopecia Awareness month. I am attempting to complete 10000 push ups in 30 days, that works out at around 300 a day.

For a man who has been in and out of fitness since leaving the military, this is going to be really challenging.

Why this number? Well there were 300+ hours of support group meetings delivered across the UK in 2019. It’s a condition that affects more people than you know and is often hidden through embarrassment and shame.

Chelsey has Alopecia Areata, which is thought to be an autoimmune condition that causes hair to fall out, usually in round or oval patches on the scalp or other places on the body that grow hair, such as the beard, eyebrows or eyelashes. Types of Alopecia Areata include Patchy Alopecia Areata, Alopecia Totalis, Alopecia Universalis, Alopecia Barbae, Diffuse Alopecia Areata and Alopecia Ophiasis.

If you’d like to donate or just read up a little more on Alopecia, click on the link.

Thanks for reading and I’ll be regularly posting updates of how I’m getting on and the super huge pecs I’m about to develop.

Wish me luck! Pete Redden