shianne
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010When we were in Tassie, we met a great little girl
Her name was Shianne
You may have seen her on the Tasmania vlog
At about the 2:36 mark
Her Mum, Chantelle, had sent a letter asking if Shianne could meet Dad
She’s only 11, but knows all the words to Dad’s songs
And loves him
You have to be 18 to see the show
So she came backstage before the Burnie concert to say hi and get some pics taken
Shianne has Alopecia
It’s a disease where your hair falls out
Sometimes in patches, sometimes all over
Shianne has Alopecia totalis
Which has made her totally bald
Eyebrows, eyelashes – all of it
Shianne first started loosing her hair when she was 7
As a Mum with a daughter who will be 7 this year
I try to imagine how she would cope losing her beautiful, long hair at this age
Being her Mum, I’m not sure I would handle it too well
Chantelle’s letter told of the hard time that Shianne gets at school
She gets teased constantly
Because we all know what motherfuckers how cruel kids can be sometimes
(And how much I hate bullying BUT how standing up to them can help)
So having something as obvious as ‘no hair’ would be such a magnet for the arsehole kids
So they give her a hard time
All the time
According to Chantelle, the school where Shianne goes, does fuck all about it is not too great at handling the situation
Shianne was told to, ‘deal with it’
As she would look like it for the rest of her life
So it’s in her ‘best interest’ to get used to the stares and smart arsed comments
When I spoke to Chantelle about it, I was gobsmacked
I’m not sure if changing schools is an option
But it’s something I would look into
After I told them to all go fuck themselves!
Asking an 11 year old girl to just deal with name-calling and constant teasing?
If that’s not absolute bullshit, I don’t know what is
Then I spoke to Shianne
And seriously, she is the cutest, sweetest, giggly little girl in the world
It seems so unfair
What she has to go through every day
Her friends and family are currently raising money
So that Shianne can go and meet some other kids who have Alopecia
She’s the only one in Tasmania
And has never met anyone else who suffers from it
She’s very excited
She wanted to have one of my albums, but we’d sold out on the night
Plus I was a little hesitant
OK, I was A LOT hesitant
About handing over an album of my ‘fuck’ songs to an 11 year old kid
Her Mum assured me it was OK
So I ended up sending her a signed copy
Along with a kick boxing dvd
To help her deal with the fuckers at school
And maybe kick some arse
I figure if I’m going to be a bad influence
I might as well give it my best shot
.
.
Update – they raised the money, so Shianne is planning her trip to go & meet some new friends!!
