The woman said she initially gave her son a “massive lecture”

A mother in England says she initially believed her young son had secretly shaved part of his head — until she realized something much more serious was happening.

Kerry Osborne says she first noticed a hairless patch on the back of her son Leo Osborne’s head in December 2023, when he was 7 years old, according to Kennedy News and Media.

“I first thought he had got my razor out of the bathroom and had tried to shave his head,” Kerry, 31, said, per the outlet.

“I asked him if he had shaved his head. It was as smooth as a baby’s bottom,” she added. “It looked like he had taken it clean off and it was quite a width as well, like the size of a blade.”

Kerry admitted she didn’t believe Leo when he denied shaving his head.

“I gave him a massive lecture and he said he didn’t, but I thought he would deny it anyway even if he had done it,” she said.

Within days, however, Leo’s condition got worse.

“Two days later another two patches appeared … and then about five days later … a massive large bald patch appeared,” Kerry recalled.

Concerned, she took Leo to his doctor, where blood work and thyroid tests came back normal before he was referred to a dermatologist at Colchester General Hospital in Essex.

Leo was initially diagnosed with alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes patchy hair loss.

As his symptoms progressed, he eventually lost all of the hair on his scalp, eyebrows, much of his eyelashes and the hair on his arms and legs. He has since been diagnosed with alopecia universalis, the most severe form of the condition.

“He lost his hair fully as time went on,” Kerry said. “He lost his hair back to front … At one point he was just left with a chunk of hair.”

Kerry said the diagnosis has been especially difficult because of how other children react to her son.

She said that on one occasion, after a soccer game in which Leo scored a goal, an opposing player called him a “bald cancer idiot” as the players lined up to shake hands.

“We got in the car, he just crumbled and broke down in tears,” Kerry said.

“It comes back to parents. A child of 10 would not know what cancer and being bald have to do with each other,” she added.

She said another time, a girl at school said Leo “looked ugly” and had a “disease,” and warned other children not to touch him.

Since his diagnosis, Leo has undergone regular checkups every six months and has tried steroid treatment for his hair loss — which Kerry said has not been successful.

Leo was referred for specialist care, though Kerry said the referral was declined without explanation.

“The specialist referral as a free NHS [National Health Service] appointment has been declined, but they said I’m welcome to go and see them privately,” Kerry said. “I’ve had no reason as to why it’s been declined.”

According to Kerry, a second NHS referral was submitted two weeks ago, and the family is still waiting to hear whether Leo will be accepted for treatment.

In the meantime, the family has established a GoFundMe to help pay for private medical care, and Kerry said she was able to use the initial funds raised to schedule an appointment for Leo at the clinic.

“We are reaching out because we simply cannot manage these costs alone, but we desperately want to give Leo every opportunity to access the specialist care and support he deserves,” Kerry wrote on the fundraising page.

“Every donation, no matter how small, will go directly toward Leo’s specialist appointments and medical care. And if you are unable to donate, simply sharing Leo’s story would mean the world to us,” she added.

Source: https://people.com/mom-thought-son-shaved-his-head-before-alopecia-diagnosis-12012490