Megan Ragucci is a typical kid from Wyckoff, New Jersey aside from one thing: she is bald.
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Megan lost all of her body hair to alopecia universalis, an autoimmune disease which causes the immune system to attack its own hair follicles. She has spent years coming to terms with looking a little different from her peers, even joining an organization called Baldtourage.
Baldtourage is a community of people who strive to normalize being bald. Megan has found comfort in their ranks, but a recent gesture from a small business owner made her realize more people have her back than she thought!
Sam Aggarwal owns and operates Sunrise Bagels in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Megan is a regular in his shop, and one day he decided to do something nice to show his support for her. He contacted Megan’s mother, Jenn Ragucci, and told her he wanted to shave his own head bald, just like Megan’s.
“He stressed that he was just [going to shave his head] because he didn’t want her to ever feel alone,” Jenn recalled. “He just feels the world needs more kindness.”
Megan and Sam met up at a salon called The Klip Joint, and Jenn’s friend Jackie Pomante-Kiener shaved Sam’s head down the the skin. With just a few passes of the electric razor, Sam officially became a member of the Baldtourage!
Megan and Sam both grinned from ear-to-ear as Jenn took their photo after the haircut. Jenn said the gesture meant a lot to her daughter because some people can be very unkind when they see someone who looks different.
“Life for Meg can be hard sometimes,” Jenn said. “She can’t go anywhere without someone staring or asking if she’s sick. She has unfortunately experienced some of the world’s unkindness, so when someone goes above and beyond to show her she’s not alone, people are still kind… it just means the world to our family!”
Megan said she was “so happy” that Sam made such a kind and unexpected act of solidarity. As for Sam’s reasons for doing it, we couldn’t agree more. The world does need more random acts of kindness like this one!
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