who Matt Lucas has certainly helped make smile.

14-year-old Jacob Fitzpatrick started losing his hair in chunks 4 years ago

A scary prospect for anyone - but even more frightening for a 10 year old.

Baffled as to what could be causing the hair loss,

his mother Sarah took him to several doctors until they finally diagnosed him with alopecia.

As the condition worsened, Jacob's confidence plummeted. He wore a hat at all times to cover

the baldness.

His mother, however, was determined to lift his spirits and

wrote to Jacob's favourite comedian, Matt Lucas who was diagnosed with alopecia at just six years old.

"The other evening we were looking at famous people who had the same condition

and your name came up.

I was trying to show him that it won't stop him achieving anything he wants in life.

I understand this is a long shot, but I wondered if there is any chance

that you would be able to get in touch with Jacob

as I know that to be in contact with someone else in the same situation

and who knows what it is like to cope with this condition

would help him immensely"

To her's and Jacob's delight the comedian did respond with a signed photo and this message...

"Dear Jacob, I just wanted to say that I found it tough when I lost my hair aged six,

but you will find that it does get much easier.

And it's quite nice not to have to get your hair cut and also on a hot day

you can just take your hat off! And women find it sexy!

You're gonna be fine. Matt"

The reply may have taken Lucas only a few minutes to write,

but his small act of kindness has made a huge difference to Jacob's confidence.

"It made me know that I didn't have to just complain about it all the time

I could actually move on and it would help me a lot with my confidence"

"Thank you Matt Lucas for helping me through all that has happened to me.

And helping me boost my confidence through what was going on."

As Matt Lucas has proven, even without a full head of hair, there's so much you can achieve.

Although Jacob's alopecia may never fully go away - he now knows that the sky really

is the limit.