Inspiring Woman Battling Alopecia Tells JHud How She Reclaimed Her Identity
February 27, 2023
Jennifer Hudson is putting the spotlight on an “Alopecia Warrior” empowering others to reframe life’s challenges to pursue their purpose with clarity and confidence.
McKenna Reitz is a high school teacher from Detroit, Michigan, who lost her hair just three weeks after being diagnosed with alopecia.
“All my life I was known for my hair,” she told Jennifer on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” “I was known for the beautiful, thick, wavy hair I’ve always had since I was 5 years old.”
She had her youngest child in May 2015, and in August, she began to find strands of hair on her clothes. Thinking it was normal postpartum shedding, she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that attacks the hair follicles and makes your hair fall out.
“We took family pictures in early November, and by the end of November I was standing in the shower with my hands full of hair in complete disbelief,” McKenna recalled. Within six months, every piece of hair from her body was gone.
“I felt like my identity was being ripped away from me. As a woman, we subconsciously connect ourselves to our hair,” she said.
“I always questioned, how am I gonna be a mom? How is my husband still going to love me? How are my students going to react to this? How am I going to continue living this way?”
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View StoryThankfully, she had a strong support network. “I have a husband who said, ‘McKenna, it’s just hair.’”
Through the support of her friends, family, and students, McKenna realized that neither her hair nor her disease defines who she is as a person.
“We all have a storm,” she said. “Mine just happens to be visible. And you have two choices: Either allow it to define you, or you define it. And I made a decision to define it.”
Jennifer then surprised McKenna with a video of people in her life, including her two daughters, thanking her for empowering others and being an inspiration.
“Wow,” an emotional McKenna said after watching the video. “Those girls are my reasons… I want to prove to them that whatever stands in their way, they are strong enough.”
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