Despite illness, Good keeps smiling, playing

So when, after playing a game last season in fifth grade, her parents noticed a small patch on her head where her hair had fallen out, things suddenly changed for the Good family.

“My parents noticed like a spot, right by my ear, and they asked if I had shaved my head,” said Addi Good. “I told them no and my parents started keeping an eye on it.”

Her parents, Joe and Trisha Good, took Addi to a dermatologist, who prescribed a cream and referred them to a specialist for blood work to determine what was happening and why.

After a few sleepless nights worrying about the worst, the results came back that Addi had Alopecia areata, which is also known as spot baldness. It is a condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body. Often, it results in a few bald spots on the scalp, each about the size of a coin.

Approximately 2% of the population have Alopecia areata, which was brought to national attention when Jada Pinket Smith attended the Academy Awards in 2022 with her head shaved and her husband, Will Smith, slapped Chris Rock, who had made a joke of her appearance.

“We were not really familiar with it,” said Trisha Good. “We had to do a lot of educating ourselves on what it was and kind of prepare ourselves for what she was going to go through and make sure she had resources and support in place.”

“Our biggest concern was we didn’t want her to be self-conscious,” said Joe Good, who coached the Napoleon boys basketball team from 2013-18 and has coached Addy’s teams the past two years.

Addi began losing her hair, but with the cream she was prescribed it all grew back and the Goods, who have two more daughters — Ava, the oldest, and Claire, the youngest — were ready to return to some sense of normalcy.

“We thought it was just one and done,” said Trisha Good. “We were just kind of over it.”

Then in August, just as Addi was set to begin school back at Napoleon after a year in the Bryan school district, she began losing her hair again. This time faster, and in a seven-week period it was all gone.

“When my hair came back, I was relieved,” said Addi. “I was so happy. I thought maybe this was just a stress thing and it won’t come back. I’m at my hometown now I’m not gonna go through any stress, but it did come back and just kind of like it didn’t scare me, but it was like okay, well now it’s back.”

Along with the hair loss, the anxiety over what was causing it came rushing back for her parents. Was this something new, different? How sick was Addi?

After more bloodwork, Addi’s least favorite thing, it was definitely Alopecia areata. But this time the hair was not coming back.

“It was like starting the process over,” said Trisha Good. “We figured the cream would bring it back. The cream didn’t bring it back.”

For Addi, who by all accounts is a spunky child with a ton of energy, it was time to decide how she was going to be viewed.

She began wearing wigs, that were provided for her by a friend of the family. They worked well at school, but when the basketball season started it was different.

“Last year I coached her AAU teams and she was my most aggressive player,” said Joe Good. “She had a lot of energy. When she lost all her hair and had to wear the wigs, she became concerned what if it falls off. Her body was also adjusting to some things and she didn’t have the same energy.”

Then two weeks ago Addi came to her parents and said she wasn’t going to wear the wig playing basketball anymore.

“I thought about it for a long time,” said Addi. “What if I don’t wear it? I just thought about that for a little bit and I was like I’m playing basketball and that is my favorite thing so I won’t be thinking about it, I’ll just be playing.”

The first step was not wearing the wig at practice. Her dad, and coach, held a team meeting and told the players that Addi had Alopecia and that’s when she took her hat off.

“The support we’ve gotten has been great,” said Tisha Good. “I think it’s been a relief for all of us. We’ve just been overwhelmed with so much support.”

Addi’s first game playing without a wig was against Tinora, which had a few players from Addi’s summer team.

“We received some nice text messages,” said Joe Good. “Trish decided to put it on Facebook, not trying to put her out there, but to just let people know.

“She (Addi) has done a real good job in public, which is her personality,” added Joe. “She likes to move and talk. At night, when she’s home, she has her moments, but knowing people support her, that makes her feel good.”

The Napoleon girls basketball team, which her older sister, Ava, is a freshman, showed its support for Addi. Lady Cats coach Corey Kreinbrink and senior standout Sophie Chipps each wrote letters to Addi.

“I am going to hang them up somewhere,” said Addi. “I just love looking at them, especially Sophie’s. I look at them every morning before I go to school. I always read Sophie’s before I go to school. It’s really exciting.”

Kreinbrink, who likes to use motivational quotes each week with his team, patterned one of the more recent ones to Addi’s situation.

“The things you take for granted, some people are praying for them.”

“A lot of the kids know what Addi was going through,” said Kreinbrink. “When she decided to go public that was the quote we used that week for the girls.

“One of the first people that welcomed me to Napoleon were the Goods,” added Kreinbrink. “I’ve known Addi forever. She has a big personality with a lot of spunk and energy. She is part of our basketball family, and that is what we talk about when we talk about our program ... being a family and supporting one another.”

Joe Good said Kreinbrink, along with Ryan and Kara Miller, who coach the other youth girls basketball team for Napoleon, have been great help for him.

“They help when I get emotional,” said Joe Good.

Now that she is no longer wearing the wig during games, Addi said the next step is to not wear one at school, which brings on more anxiety — for her parents.

“It’s hard because you want to protect her,” said Trisha Good. “You’re worried how people are going to react or what they might say. Not because they’re being hurtful, but just because it’s not something they’re used to.

“You want to protect your kids and you don’t want to see them hurt,” added Trisha. “That was a big step for her and I didn’t want that to take any steps backwards. She’s got a big spunky personality and I always want it to be like that, and I don’t want this to change that.”

“This could be something she has forever,” said Joe Good. “But, she is like this does not make me any different, I just don’t have any hair on my head.”

Basketball season is winding down for Addi, with a few tournaments in February. Then it is on to softball and then volleyball, but basketball is Addi’s true love and it has helped her go through this process.

“It feels great to play,” said Addi. “I’ve been trying to get better. When I’m playing it feels like I’m doing a good job. It makes me feel great.”