No Room for Splitting Hairs Here

Perhaps the day will come when Kyle Ryan escapes from the curious look of a stranger's eye fixed on his bald head.

He knows what that stranger is thinking: What is wrong with him? Could it be that the 16-year-old Plainfield South student and standout distance runner is dying of cancer? What happens if he touches me? Is he contagious?

No.

Invariably, the answers to all of the questions are no. Ryan is allergic to his own hair, of which he has none. Well, almost none. He is happy to show off the hint of a blond peach-fuzz mustache growing on his upper lip.

He is that kind of young man, a good-natured sort with an Energizer Bunny-like motor. He stands proud of who he is and where he is going in life despite the fact he has Alopecia Areata, an auto-immune disease that attacks hair follicles and leaves him on occasion feeling somewhat like the Emperor With No Clothes.

To be sure, he'll get there on his own two feet.

Ryan runs almost everywhere he goes, his twin brother, Tyler, riding on his heels, always standing at his back. The two boys shared a defining moment when they crossed the line almost side-by-side in the Class 3A state cross country meet last November at Peoria's Detweiller Park.

Though Tyler officially was credited with 139th place and Kyle 143rd -- that's how tightly the pack was bunched at the finish – there was no difference in their times. Both capped their sophomore seasons with what then stood as career-best marks of 16:01 for 3 miles. And both helped Plainfield South nail down a 15th-place finish.

"When we run together, we'll help each other out," Tyler Ryan said. "I'll pick it up a little bit. He'll pick it up a little bit. And we'll try to finish across the line all out.

"We get competitive. But we'll still work together."

Both have returned as juniors this fall with plans to push the envelop further as they chase after their dreams and goals, not all of which are tied to a stopwatch. In June, Kyle attended the National Alopecia Foundation conference in Indianapolis. His parents, Mark and Jill Ryan, accompanied him on the trip.

At the event, Kyle met Miss Delaware, Kayla Martell, who reminded him of her mantra, "We're just normal people without hair."

Kyle ran in the foundation's 5K race and raised $1,200.

"There is no amount too small," he said. "It all adds up and can help find a cure."

He first was struck with Alopecia when he was 4 years old. In a month's time, he lost all of his hair. He easily could have lost his way, too.

He was subject to ridicule and bald jokes through much of his toddler and elementary-school days.

"Looking different from others can be extremely difficult," Jill Ryan said. "Not only kids can be cruel is so many ways, but surprisingly, so can adults. For Kyle, growing up with Alopecia, the support of family and friends has helped.

"As a parent, you try protecting any pain or hurt from your child. We admire Kyle's strength and he is an inspiration to others. The public's awareness of Alopecia helps others who struggle."

"In kindergarten and through elementary school, kids stared at me," Kyle Ryan said. "Some kids now still think I have cancer. That bothers me. I started wearing a hat. That made me fit in a little more.

"I started telling my friends, 'I don't have cancer, but I'm allergic to my hair.' Some people wouldn't even want to go by me. But my friends have been really good. They help me out if someone makes fun of me. They'll call me 'baldly' and I don't like it.

"But, yeah, things have been OK lately. I have good friends. And, yeah, I see all those muscle guys with no hair. So, that helps out."

Tyler helps out, too. He is a rarity himself, one of only a handful of identical twins where one has Alopecia and the other does not. In the medical world, it is believed Tyler's case study ultimately could lead to a cure for the disease. He recently was admitted into in a research project based out of Houston, Texas.

"Sometimes people would ask me, 'What's wrong with him?' " Kyle Ryan said. "I would tell them, 'It's nothing bad. It's not cancer.' You just get allergic to your hair. He's not contagious. You don't have to be afraid of him."

When they were younger, the Ryan twins played basketball. They took up running to stay in shape and follow in the footsteps of their older brother, Chad, also a member of South's state qualifying cross country team last season.

Then, the Ryans were known on campus as the Cougars' Triple Threat. Chad is now attending Joliet Junior College. He still runs on occasion with his brothers. He just has a hard time keeping up with them.

"The Ryan twins have been running with us on the varsity since they were freshmen," Plainfield South coach Jason Crowe said. "To be honest with you, they've been running with us in our summer training program since they were in middle school at Drauden Point. Chad brought them over when they were sixth- and seventh-graders.

"They're just two kids that, honestly, they run everywhere. Mom and dad were telling me the funny thing is when they'd go to the mall, they'd run there. They'd go to Blockbuster to get a video and they'd run there. They'd go to get something to eat at McDonald's and they'd run there.

"Jill, their mother, said that's just always the way they've been. They've enjoyed running. And it's great for us. They're two kids that naturally just can run forever.

"And, do you know what? As a head coach, we joke around about it, in track the maximum distance is 2 miles. And in cross country, at least in high school, the maximum distance is 3 miles. It's almost too short for those guys."

Crowe has come to admire Kyle and the entire Ryan family.

"Here at Plainfield South, everybody treats Kyle great," he said. "Nobody even talks about it or brings it up. Alopecia? We don't even think of it, honestly. He can tell you, maybe, how he feels personally. But he's never shown any grief.

"Ironically, this is actually the second athlete I've coached who has Alopecia. I coached a young man by the name of Randy Spring up at Winona State back in 2002 in football. And Randy had it.

"It was the same thing – just a terrific kid and a good athlete, just a positive attitude on life. It never held him back at all."