One Day at a Time

All text, images, video, and audio by Maryel Pryce

Jenna Duquin is a twenty-year-old young adult from Grand Island, N.Y. She loves Harry Styles, her two cats Matilda and Honey, hanging out with her best friend Ava, and making funny videos on TikTok. At the age of 3, Jenna lost all of her hair due to a disease called alopecia. It ended up growing back eventually, and ultimately fell out again at the age of 17. “Losing my hair was really hard”, says Jenna. “I was going into my junior year of high school when it was falling out. So that's already a really tough age to be at, especially as a girl in this generation and society. It's not easy. I was scared about what the reaction would be from people who I went to school with.”

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that causes hair to fall out in concentrated areas on the scalp or body. Pediatric alopecia areata affects about 1 in every 1,000 children and teens, and is more common in girls than boys in children. Jenna says, “The process of your hair falling out is really hard… like I was finding hair everywhere. I would wake up in the morning, there would be clumps of hair on my pillow. It would fall out in the shower, and it was just really hard watching it fall out.”

Jenna Duquin at age three, shortly after she lost her hair for the first time.

Hair is such a big part of anyone’s identity, but specifically women. To lose it as a teenager is traumatic - but it doesn’t make anyone less of the woman that they were before. Since losing her hair, Jenna has realized what the true meaning of beauty is. Jenna says, “Learn to accept it and embrace it. I think that is one of the most beautiful things, when people can be confident in how they look especially when they might not look how society wants them to look.”

Jenna began posting TikTok videos consistently in 2021, and her account quickly gained traction. Her content, which primarily focuses on her journey with hair loss, resonated with a wide audience, bringing significant attention to her story. Today, Jenna has 54.5 thousand followers and has amassed 7.3 million likes on the platform. Her TikTok page has evolved into a powerful space for raising awareness about alopecia and fostering a supportive community, but also has just become a page where she posts her life. More recently in her words, a “fan page for my cat.”

With such a big following online, the reaction is mixed. Most of the time Jenna receives positive and encouraging comments and messages, but there is also so much hate and negativity spread. Jenna says, “I definitely got my fair share of hate comments. But I think that goes kind of with anybody out there on social media that has any bit of a following from people they don't know in real life” and, “But I feel like overall, there is a very overwhelming sense of support that came with it, which, honestly, I think that helped me a lot to get through it all. I had so many people reaching out to me. Either telling me that they're going through the same thing, or that they know someone going through the same thing. Having that like sense of support, even though they were people I have never met, that made a really big difference.”

“Looking back at the video I do see the lump, but at the time I had no idea it was there.”

On June 21st, 2021, Jenna posted a TikTok of her going to Junior Prom. A stranger left a comment saying, “I don’t mean to be rude or intrusive but I noticed you have a lump on the side of your neck, have you gotten it checked out? Just looking out!” This comment alarmed Jenna’s mom, prompting her to schedule a doctors appointment. Jenna says, “My mom was like, if someone on TikTok can see it (the lump) than this is not normal.” The doctors appointment led to many more scans, labs, testing and checkups to find out what the lump was. Jenna ended up getting diagnosed with thyroid cancer in early July 2021. “I was seventeen at the time,” Jenna says, “that’s something you never really expect to hear when you’re that age.” Soon after her diagnosis, Jenna got her thyroid and lymph nodes removed.

“The hardest part was when I couldn’t smile.”

“My face didn’t work after surgery” Jenna says, “… all the nerves were shot in my face, I could not smile. It was traumatizing. My doctors didn’t know why it was happening.” Jenna’s inability to smile affected her for the first few months of her senior year of high school, an action she used to do without thinking- now taken from her. Jenna says, “My mom took a photo of my first day of senior year. It was horrible, my face was messed up.”

It took three months for Jenna’s smile to come back.

“I can relate my life to Harry Styles’ music. I live my life through his music.”

Read Jenna's Essay

“When I got told I was getting a Make-A-Wish, it felt so magical. It still does,” says Jenna. The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants life changing experiences for children with critical illnesses. Jenna says, “I never thought I could get a Make-A-Wish. I was in the McDonald’s parking lot with my mom and my endocrinologist called and said she nominated me for a Make-A-Wish.” This phone call changed Jenna’s life, and now she does work for The Make-A-Wish Foundation, speaking at events, fundraisers, and promotions.

Jenna’s wish was granted in October 2022. Make-A-Wish flew Jenna, her parents, and her best friend Ava to Los Angeles. Jenna and Ava got barricade floor seats to see Harry Styles, their favorite musician, at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California.

Jenna says, “We were right front row. I could touch his feet if I wanted to we were that close.” And, “I made eye contact with him (Harry Styles) so many times. He has this one song titled, Love of My Life, and during this song he blew me a kiss. At the end of the concert he comes running over to where Ava and I are standing and he leans over and throws his towel to me, and I catch it and he gives me a thumbs up. I immediately started shaking and sobbing … I still can’t believe it happened.”

“I feel like I’ve had to grow up and mature a lot faster than a lot of other people my age.”

This past fall, Jenna has faced many changes. She bought her first apartment, is living by herself, got her first full-time job and rescued two cats. Jenna says, “I have been loving living on my own. It is my own little quiet space. It’s just me and my two cats, I love it.”

Jenna Duquin takes her kitten Honey to the veterinarian.

Jenna Duquin plays with her kitten Honey.

Both Jenna's cats, Matilda (top) and Honey (bottom).

Jenna eats her lunch, and her cat Matilda can't help herself.

A Make-A-Wish ornament in Jenna's kitchen.

Jenna Duquin and her two best friends, Ava (left) and Daelin (right).

Jenna and her cat Honey pose for a portrait.

Since Jenna has gotten her cats they have quickly become her world. Jenna says, “The first cat I got is Matilda, named after a Harry Styles song of course, my other cat is Miss. Honey. I treat them like actual human babies. They rule the apartment, I just feed them.”

Jenna’s new tattoo on her arm, her cats Honey (left) and Matilda (right) in a locket.

In July, 2023, Jenna’s mom and best friend, Ann Duquin, passed away from cancer. Jenna says, “She was forever my biggest supporter through everything.” And, “My mom died young, but she lived her life. She did a lot, met a lot of people, made an impact on everyone she knew. That’s what I wanna do. I want to follow in her footsteps and continue on what she left behind.”

“My mom always said, you have two options. You can be mad at the world or you can live your life, one day at a time.”

— Jenna Duquin