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Toledo basketball coach's family draws strength from daughter with alopecia

Eight-year-old Kayla Massey loves gymnastics and cheerleading.

She particularly likes to swing on the bars in gymnastics and enjoys the chance to flip and tumble in cheerleading. In her free time, she makes rubber band bracelets, and she rarely loses to her father in card games like War. In second grade at Toledo Christian, her favorite subjects are science and Latin.

At 4 years old, Massey was diagnosed with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body's hair follicles and causes hair loss. As is sometimes the case with alopecia, Massey has lost her hair twice.

“One day I woke up, and I went out of my bed, and I noticed some of my hair was falling out,” Massey said.