And while something like 5 million people in America have the auto-immune disease, very few people have heard of it, said Chuck's dad, Paul Hamaker, who has set out to raise awareness about the condition with the help of an NBA star.
Not surprisingly, Chuck's sudden baldness last year led to stares by his classmates, some teasing and-even worse-one particularly troubling episode with the Magnolia Soccer League, according to Paul.
Chuck was born with the condition, which resulted in a bald spot that was the size of a quarter on the back of his head, Paul said. His family doctor in Magnolia thought it was normal, but Chuck's visit to Children's Hospital led to a correct diagnosis, Paul added.
It also led to a prescription when Chuck was 4 years old for a medication that stung, his father said. "Then everything was fine for a couple of years."
The medication stopped working, though, and Chuck took to wearing a hat all the time, Paul said. But the hat proved to be irresistible to one of the bigger kids on Chuck's Magnolia soccer team on picture-taking day. The boy grabbed the hat and held it away when Chuck tried to retrieve it, his father said. "The parents were laughing, too," he fumed.
That problem, at least, was solved when Paul took his son off the Magnolia team and put him on a squad in West Seattle, where Paul's brother is coach, he said.
Paul talked to Chuck's teacher, Diana Joldersma, about his condition, and she and most people at Blaine have been totally supportive, he said.
Others weren't, and that prompted Paul to do some Internet research, which turned up the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) and one of its spokesmen, Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva.
Villanueva has an advanced form of the disease, and on NBA game days at home and on the road he makes a point of meeting children who also have the condition.
As luck would have it, the Bucks had a game scheduled with the Sonics at the KeyArena on Dec. 7. So Paul contacted the Bucks and the NAAF, which agreed to set up a meet-and-greet between the basketball star and Chuck, Paul said in an e-mail to the News.
He went even further, and got in touch with his employer, the Oberto Sausage Company, asking if the company could donate some of its snacks to the Bucks and the NAAF for their efforts to help people with the disease.
Kim Oberto, daughter of the company's president, went even further, Paul said. She made arrangements to get courtside seats for Chuck at the game, and she also bought two Villanueva jerseys for the boy, his father added.
Villanueva even signed one of the jerseys for Chuck. The Bucks forward also gave the boy his personal cellphone number and told him to call anytime, Paul said.
"I think I'm going to take him up on that," said Paul, who hopes Villanueva will give a talk at Blaine about the disease the next time he's in town.
Chuck said that meeting Villanueva made him feel better about himself. "I think it was OK," he said. Actually, it was better than OK, according to his father, who said Chuck thought he was the only one who suffered from alopecia areata.
There are other signs the meeting with Villanueva made a difference in Chuck's life, his father said. "He used to wear a hat quite regularly," Paul said. That's changed. His son rarely wears a hat now and then only when the weather is cold, Paul added.
It helps that Chuck's hair is starting to grow back, thanks to Rogaine, his father said. But raising awareness that the disease is non-life-threatening and not contagious is still import to Paul, he said. "That was the big part."
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com.
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