Wednesday’s Workshop Covers Organizing Tips & Parenting When Ill
September 15, 2010 by admin
Filed under Calendar of Events, Today's News, Announcements, What's New, How to Help
Wednesday’s program covered 2 topics: “Getting Organized” and “Parenting with Illness.”
Lisa started the show with a bit of a technical glitch but she quickly was able to get her guests through. (And Lisa was dressed today!) Karen Whiting and Marcia Ramsland spoke on organizing and time management. Karen shared one of her best parenting tips, which was to have each child assigned a color and they have everything that is theirs that color, such as a towel, toothbrush, school folders, etc. She said they never passed around the flu in her home, because there was no spread of germs this way. She also shared how helpful it can be to know your “natural energy cycle.” Know what time of day you have more energy of know the seasons that are more difficult for you to get that “spring cleaning” done (it may not be in the Spring at all!)
Marcia Ramsland shared about how the little things can make a huge impact in getting organized, like just doing a “2-minute pickup” when you leave a room or cleaning up a small drawer during the commercials on TV.
Marcia and Karen both have many articles and tips on their web sites, and Marcia also has a free download of a “Time Tracker.”
Next Jill Hart joined Lisa to talk about parenting. Lisa and Jill shared a little about how hard it can be to find the right balance between raising a compassionate kid as well as not wanting them to be the “parent” to an ill parent. Christine Miserandino and Kelly Young joined a few minutes late but Christine shared how the reason was because she’d literally just gotten home from the pediatrician with her daughter who is 3. She spoke about how important it is to have a emergency plan in place for when things like your child becoming ill happens.
Kelly shared about how a child is not like a cake mix (listen to learn more!) and then the women shared a little bit about how they are a mom, someone with an illness, AND a patient advocate online (when do they write and how do they do it all?)
One caller explained how the session had been encouraging as she and her spouse were considering if they should have a child or not. Lisa encouraged her to make the decision from the heart along with her spouse and not to give outside influences too much weight in the choice.
They closed the program with Lisa saying she’d love to have them all back sometime soon for a more in depth time, as they all are an amazing group of women with lots to share.
You can still listen this program any time as it is archived. Either go to www.invisbleillnessconference.com or click in the BlogTalkRadio blue box to the right of this post.
Popularity: 6% [?]
National Invisible Illness Week Features Virtual Conference This Week
September 12, 2010 by admin
Filed under Online Ways to Help, What's New, How to Help
SBWire-9/13/10– National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is September 12-19, 2010 and this week, Monday through Friday, the campaign features a virtual conference with one 90-minute seminar each day.
Listeners can log on to http://InvisibleIllnessConference.com to listen LIVE or later to the archived audio file. The seminars will also be available at itunes.com . To listen live, log on during September 13-17, 10:30 – 12 Pacific time; 12:30-2 PM Central time; or 1:30 PM – 3 PM Eastern time.
Topics include coping with illness, parenting, getting organized, relationships, setting boundaries, working, and of course, the whole “invisible” illness issues. Participants include best-selling author Pam Farrel, chronic illness coach Rosaline Joffe, and popular patient advocates Christine Miserandino or butyoudontlooksick.com and Jenny Prokopy of chronicbabe.com .
Over 20 speakers from all over the country come together to provide amazing workshops that are rarely available for those with illness who are unable to travel far for a conference or sit for extended periods of time.
The host of the show is Invisible Illness Week founder, Lisa Copen, who began this week in 2002 and has produced it each year since then. Lisa is the founder of Rest Ministries which serves the chronically ill and author of many books on chronic illness, including, “Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend.”
Invisible Illness Week offers many other ways to get involved including blogging for the cause, sharing invisible illness week facts on Twitter or Facebook, a Facebook cause page, and leaving anonymous sticky notes in honor of the campaign’s theme, “Each One Can Reach One.”
To find out more visit the web site http://InvisibleIllnessWeek.com .
Popularity: 3% [?]
Can You Still Be Friends If They Think You Are Faking Your Illness?
September 9, 2010 by admin
Filed under Articles, Today's News, Announcements
If you have an invisible chronic illness you may discover that the invisibility factor of the illness can be much more of a challenge than the physical changes your body is undergoing. Most people who are diagnosed with an illness sooner or later accept the illness as being a part of life. In order to have a life filled with joy, one must educate one’s self on the illness and that treatment options available, and then make choices.
But we have no control over our loved ones when they choose not to accept our illness, or sometimes even acknowledge it. Their skepticism can last a lifetime and damage our self-worth and many relationships.
So, what you do when someone important in your life refuses to acknowledge the seriousness of your disease, or accept that the disease even exists? Here are four steps to change your actions and attitudes:
1. Go with it. Though the seriousness of your illness is significant under your roof, it isn’t that important to others. And there’s no magical conversation you can have with the person that will make him change his mind. The most likely way your friend will accept that your illness is real, is by observing you. For example, your invisible illness may begin to have some visible side effects. When he sees you struggle to get up out of a chair, don’t comment; just let him take it all in.
2. Grow with it. This situation can be a perfect time to reflect on your own perceptions of people. Have you ever stood in line at the bank and thought yourself, “No one here understands how difficult it is to just stand in this slow line!” But nearly 1 in two people in the USA have a chronic illness, so the chances are high that someone standing beside you does understand. Remember that 96% of illnesses are invisible, so watch your assumptions. What situations are your friends going through that you don’t fully grasp? The affair of a spouse, a baby born with a disability, and the loss of a job, are all experiences that can alter one’s life in an instant. Chances are that your friends can use your support and even empathy.
3. Get over it. It is easy to obsess over the fact that no one understands what your daily chronic pain is like. Save yourself a lot of grief and don’t do it. We would all like a loved one to be able to slip inside are skin for twenty-four hours, but this level of understanding of our disease will never occur. If you began to resent people who don’t understand, soon all your friendships will be tainted. Do not take a friend’s lack of empathy personally, even though it feels personal. You cannot change someone’s mind; you can only control your own behavior, so make certain you have conversations that you won’t regret.
4. Get on with it. Life is precious and short and no material things in your life can replace friends and family. It is true that the intimacy level in your relationship will not ever be high if your illness is not at least believed to exist. But if you still want a relationship, and it’s a healthy one in other ways, it can happen.
The odds are, at some point in your friend’s life, a health issue will occur and suddenly he will have a glimpse into what your life is like. Allow him to feel comfortable coming to you for support and encouragement and don’t use the opportunity to say, “I told you so.”
Go with it. Grow with it. Get over it. Get on with it.
Is it possible to have relationships with people who don’t understand the seriousness of your illness? Yes. Accept him for what he is able to give, and know when to back off if the relationship becomes destructive to your emotional state. Have reasonable expectations. In time, this may end up being one of your closest friendships.
Lisa Copen is the founder of Rest Ministries and National Invisible Chronic illness Awareness Week, as well as the author of Why Can’t I Make People Understand? Chronic illness doesn’t have to be depressing! Subscribe to receive daily emailed encouragement from the largest Christian outreach for people with illness. Don’t miss Rest Ministries great books and gifts we’ve selected for people coping with illness.
Popularity: 2% [?]
What Illness/Health Related Newsletters Do You Get?
September 3, 2010 by admin
Filed under Free Ways to Help, Online Ways to Help, What's New, How to Help
Between all of us with a variety of chronic illnesses and symptoms, there are hundreds of thousands of newsletters and ezines out there on the internet. Since many of us live with different illnesses than our friends, we actually have quite a few editors we can reach in a short time.
I am letting the editors of the newsletters I receive know about Invisible Illness Awareness Week.
I am just going through the newsletter ezines I’ve received in the last few weeks and have hit “reply” or “contact” and sent them an email sort of like this (be sure to personalize yours and keep it short)
Keep in mind that the easier you can make it for them to tell others the more likely they will! So be sure to include the paragraph that has the description they can copy and paste.
Dear (name):
I recently received your newsletter and enjoyed it as always, especially the part about (what I liked here).
I wanted to call your attention to the date of September 13-19, 2010 which is National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week.
September 13-19, 2010 is National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. This annual event, started in 2002 by Lisa Copen, features a variety of ways to get involved including a virtual conference September 13-17 online for free with speakers each morning 10:30 – 12 USA Pacific time.
There is a Meme “30 Things You May Not Know About My Invisible Illness”, you can sign up to blog for the cause, read guest bloggers’ posts, and get involved in the campaign on Facebook. There is even a free 80-page ebook when you sign up for email updates, with 263 tips!
With nearly 1 in 2 people living with a chronic condition, about 96% of those people are suffering silently with invisible illnesses. You can find more information at http://InvisibleIllnessWeek.com
Thank you so much for passing this along!
(Your name)
Popularity: 4% [?]
You are Too Young to Be That Sick! Chronic Illness & Young Adults
At the age of twenty-four, a thousand miles away from my family, living in a new city, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Over a period of four weeks and about eight doctor’s visits, I finally found a physician who listened to me explain my symptoms and in less than two days I had a diagnosis.
Despite the terms “chronic” and “forever” I felt relieved to know the label that described my chronic pain. Few of my friends, however, shared my enthusiasm for a diagnosis. The managers at my office were more concerned about the fact that I wasn’t wearing heels to work anymore, making me look less professional.
“Encouragement” was quickly tossed around, like “You’re too young to feel so badly!” Rheumatoid arthritis was only something that could be related to the aches and pains their grandparents suffered from and a hot water bottle made it go away. They’d laugh and say, “You can’t have arthritis yet!” Those who attempted to sympathize, compared my weary body to a sports injury they had. “I have a touch of arthritis on my knee cap from football in college. It’s not fun when the rain comes, but you just have to keep pushing and not think about it.” Even well-intentioned words were enhanced by the brush off of a hand or even rolling eyes.
When you are faced with a chronic illness in your twenties, all of the typical decisions you should be making are quickly put on hold. Up until now, you were considering what kind of education to pursue, your career aspirations, relationships, and even where you will live. All these are put aside, however, as you are forced to make immediate decisions that impact the rest of your life.
Things like how well you accept (or do not) accept the diagnosis of your condition, which medications to try, when side effects are worth the risk and when they are not, and how to find the right physician. While friends are deciding which party to go to we’re at home trying to make sense out of our latest lab test results, weighing our options for alternative treatments, and deciding to have a good cry or just go to bed and hold back the tears one more night.
I tried to make each decision based on thorough research, a bit of instinct, and “worse case scenario” situations. So when I heard someone facetiously say, “You’re too young to have that illness” it felt like a slap in the face; as if they assumed I was too gullible to fight the doctor’s diagnosis and get “right one” that could be cured with a simple pill. I had to be incorrectly diagnosed, they assumed, because, after all, I “looked so good.”
Laurie Edwards, author of ‘Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties,’ says, “However infuriating and irrational such comments are, they only have the power to define or validate our conditions if we allow that to happen. There are all sorts of reasons why people find it easy to scorn or deny illness, especially in younger people who ‘should’ look and act healthy.”
The ambush of advertising for prescription medicines has given the general public a small education on the fact that illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia are legitimate diseases. However, with this education, comes the feeling that everyone is an expert and their assumptions about various diseases are now based on what one sees in those same commercials. For example, people with disabling illnesses can somehow be miraculously playing tennis or doing a marathon. While it’s true that a very small percentage of people may go into remission, or those just diagnosed may have favorable results, most of us are happy if we can get out of bed, get dressed and drive a car. These commercials neglect to inform people that though an illness can be controlled somewhat, the person may still be in significant daily pain.
With each chronic illness, most of which are invisible, people will doubt that your illnesses impacts your life as significantly as it does. If you are in your twenties or thirties, they will be even less likely to understand that feeling better requires much more than a good attitude or a little bit of exercise.
Lisa Copen is the founder of Rest Ministries and National Invisible Chronic illness Awareness Week, as well as the author of Why Can’t I Make People Understand? Chronic illness doesn’t have to be depressing! Subscribe to receive daily emailed encouragement from the largest Christian outreach for people with illness. Don’t miss Rest Ministries great books and gifts we’ve selected for people coping with illness.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Where Do I ‘Belong’ When I Live With Chronic Illness? (chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com)
- Rest Ministries Sponsors Invisible Illness Week (chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com)
Popularity: 5% [?]
Press Release – Invisible Illness Week Bloggers Driving Force Behind Awareness Campaign
September 1, 2010 by admin
Filed under In The News, Online Ways to Help, What's New, How to Help* Feel free to share this on your blog, post it in your newsletter, whatever! Thanks for your help.
Invisible Illness Week Bloggers Driving Force Behind Awareness Campaign
San Diego, CA — (SBWIRE) — 08/31/2010 — National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, established in 2002, is September 13-19, 2010 and bloggers are a driving force behind the campaign’s success.
“The patient bloggers who participate by using their blogs as a platform to educate and increase awareness is the reason we are able to reach so many people on virtually no budget” shares Invisible Illness Week coordinator and founder, Lisa Copen. “Patient bloggers, as well as those who are health advocates, are some of the most active participants in social media and the causes they care about.”
InvisibleIllnessWeek.com features daily guest bloggers through September 19th that focus on a variety of topics that impact the lives of those who are chronically ill. These include being the spouse of one with illness, learning how to ask for help, and being a part of the patient community.
Anyone can participate by blogging about living with a chronic illness, especially the invisibility factor. Participants are encouraged to sign up with Bloggers Unite Invisible Illness Week’s event at http://ow.ly/2wOzV so that readers can easily find the blogs. Bloggers can also download the badge that declares their intent to blog about Invisible Illness Week or personal issues of living with an illness.
Many bloggers are also participating in the Invisible Illness Week Meme, “30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know.” This year’s theme, “Each One Can Reach One” encourages people to leave anonymous notes of encouragement, so bloggers are also posting photos of their notes on their blogs.
During Invisible Illness Week people can listen to seminars featuring panels of experts on a variety of topics via Blog Talk Radio. For more details visit InvisibleIllnessWeek.com . The event is sponsored by Rest Ministries, the largest Christian organization that specifically serves the chronically ill.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Press Release – Invisible Illness Week Team Offers Free Ebook of 263 Tips
September 1, 2010 by admin
Filed under Free Ways to Help, What's New, How to Help* Feel free to share this on your blog, post it in your newsletter, whatever! Thanks for your help.
Invisible Illness Week Team Offers Free Ebook of 263 Tips
20 Experts share their best tips about living with a chronic illness, from coping with illness and relationship tips to travel and homeschooling.
San Diego, CA — (SBWIRE) — 09/01/2010 — National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is September 13-19, 2010. A free 80-page ebook is now available for download to anyone who signs up for daily updates from the web site invisibleillnessweek.com .
“Chronic Illness Tips: 263 Ways To Do More Than Just Get By” is by Invisible Illness Week founder, Lisa Copen and friends. Friends include chronic illness career specialist Rosalind Joffe, relationship expert and best-selling author Pam Farrel, advocacy authority Jennifer Jaff, and illness advocate Jenni Prokopy.
Over 20 contributors share their best tips to live successfully with chronic illness on a variety of topic. “These experts are people who have the credentials,” says author Lisa Copen, “but more importantly, they have experienced illness themselves or health issues of someone close to them. Their tips come from the experience of living with the challenges illness gives us.” The chapters include coping tools, relationship issues, career, faith, and practical tips, from traveling with an illness to homeschooling. There are also many tips on how to encourage someone who lives with a chronic illness.
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is an annual event that features a free virtual conference online 9/13-17 with speakers each morning 10:30 – 12 USA Pacific time. There are a variety of ways a person can get involved including blogging for the cause, completing the Meme “30 Things You May Not Know About My Invisible Illness”, or joining the campaign on Facebook.
With nearly 1 in 2 people living with a chronic condition, about 96% of those people are suffering silently with invisible illnesses.
For more information see http://InvisibleIllnessWeek.com .
Popularity: 2% [?]
“I Just Want To Help!” When People Comment On Your Illness
August 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under Articles, Guest Blogger PostsWe may find ourselves shocked to find out just how much we are the on the prayers of loved ones who are a part of our inner circle. They may actually be concerned about us more than we realize in regard to our health. So when they say hurtful things we are left wondering about their intent.
We can do our best to rise above the hurt feelings we experience set us back emotionally. We see that we need to and recognize the concern in their hearts.
There are moments, the “wounds from a friend can be trusted” (Proverbs 27:6). This is because the remarks are truly made out of ignorance. Our loved ones are trying to say something that will get across their love. Their opinions, however, just come out in a way that at times ends up sounding all wrong.
In 1993 when I was 24 and diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis my life changed rapidly. Those individuals at my church and people at my job felt no reluctance in telling me their opinions about my chronic illness
As a 24-year-old young woman, living over a thousand miles away from the place I grew up, the decisions I was forced into making about the treatment choices felt serious and overwhelming. I meticulously poured through brochures and paperwork researching medications, therapies and alternative treatments.
I went out of my way to see specialized doctors, such as rheumatologists. I looked closely at different medications and their instant side effects, alongside the long-term outcomes of deciding not to use certain drugs.
The variety of advice from people who knew nothing about my chronic condition felt like a personal attack against my level of common sense. I know that may sound that I lacked grace, but. . . that is how it felt. My head said to myself “The audacity!’
I must admit, of those who casually shared ignorant statements, it is those that had their opinions about my genuineness of my faith that hurt the most.
Have you experienced what Proverbs 18:2 says is a friend that “finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions”?
When I was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, seeking examples from others who had traveled this unexpected road, I researched the inspiring autobiographies of Christians who who had endured physically suffering, Joni Eareckson Tada and Dave Dravecky.
They have, and still are, hearing the similar remarks and even insults, that I heard. I grasped onto the promise that our Father was the only one who truly saw my heart.
If people I did not know were able to tell these leaders in the ministry of suffering about how they came up short in having enough faith to be completely be given the gift of healing, what caused me to imagine that I was exempt from similar criticisms and skepticism? If for a moment you are wondering if something is not right with you since people suggest that you are deficient in faith to be healed, know what? You are not alone.
In addition, I’ve heard some rather derogatory remarks, and it is always difficult to simply smile and say, “I appreciate your concern, but I do not actually agree.”
Many times it feels as though everyone who is well, desires me to be in a ministry for those who are healed or a ministry that focuses on how to “get people healed” by discovering a secret formula that they believe God uses.
To be frank, I just do not have that passion for a healing ministry. Many of those already are out there. And I would rejoice at being healed, but the zeal that God has called my heart is a calling to serve where people are today– usually, still ill. I want to meet people wherever they are before they been healed. I want to be a part of in a ministry that stands by them if healing doesn’t comes on on their days on earth.
Through the Christian nonprofit I started in 1996, Rest Ministries, for people who live with chronic illness I have been blessed to have the opportunity to exhibit and speak to many audiences, including those on pastoral staff and hospital visitation teams, as well as those living with chronic pain. At every event, however, I am at risk of hearing, “If you had enough faith you would experience healing.”
Often people observe the table of our resources and books and then exclaim, “This is wonderful, but you should try ‘fill-in-the-blank-alternative-treatment-here,’ and then God would heal you, and then that could be your new ministry!”
In some strange way, though I still to get upset with the limitations and a generation of my disease, I am just beginning to understand the Bible verse 1 Peter 4:13. It speaks of considering it “pure joy to suffer for Christ.” If this means that I will have to “walk the walk” (or someday wheel?), then I will do so.
And I am not alone in this regard. You may find many people with chronic illnesses claim that though they are not especially “happy” about their limitations they have found that life is filled with deeper friendships and meaning due to the suffering they have experienced.
Yes. . . I hate pain! And I get tired of it. God does give us grace and endurance to get through another 24 hours. He also provided the Israelites manna so they could live one more day, solely depending on Him. I confess, like the Israelites, I have my moments I want to complain, “L-o-o-r-d, I’m tired of the manna!”
One will realize in time, however, that as she grows closer to the Lord the things people say will become less important and they will slip off of us much easier than we once fathomed. Although it can feel as though people are intentionally trying to say things that hurt, most often the pain they cause is not even known to them. Grow close to God and your faith in man will decrease and the emotions won’t be so painful.
Lisa Copen is the founder of Rest Ministries and National Invisible Chronic illness Awareness Week, as well as the author of Why Can’t I Make People Understand? Lisa explains in her book “Why Can’t I Make People Understand?” more ways to get past the need for friends to empathize. Discover it today so your life can be overflow with joy, not frustration.
Chronic illness doesn’t have to be depressing! Subscribe to receive daily emailed encouragement from the largest Christian outreach for people with illness. Don’t miss Rest Ministries great books and gifts we’ve selected for people coping with illness.Related articles by Zemanta
- Can One Person Make A Difference? The Story Behind The Notes (invisibleillnessweek.com)
Popularity: 2% [?]
Your New Chronic Illness Small Group: Who Is Invited?
As you begin to decide on the logistics of your support group, one of the first things to consider is who you would prefer to actually attend.
For example:
- Will this group before men, women, adults, and/or teenagers?
- Can you see your group being helpful for those who have just been diagnosed as well as people who have lived with an illness for decades?
- Will the group help seniors who live at home independently as well as seniors who live in assisted living facilities?
- Don’t forget about the many people who live by themselves, plus, those who have large families.
- Will your group be an encouragement for those who depend on an employed caregiver, as well as those who have volunteer caregivers such as family members?
- Will the group serve people who have very limited abilities and are bedridden a great deal of time, as well as those who are able to work full-time outside the home? People’s abilities will vary to the extreme and perhaps change frequently.
- Will you try to offer encouragement to parents who have young children at home, as well as those with adult children?
- Will you support groups seek to encourage those who are financially blessed and those who are trying to survive on disability assistance?
- Do you feel comfortable serving those who live with a chronic illness themselves but are also a caregiver for someone such as for an aging parent or an autistic child?
- When considering if your small group will have a Christian foundation, are people of any religious background welcome to check it out?
- Would you prefer your group to have open membership, where people can join at any time, or would you rather have just certain times of the year new people can become members?
As you can see from the list above, there is no such thing as “typical” when it comes to describing the lifestyle of those with illness.
You may encounter a woman who has had multiple sclerosis for twenty years, but who has just recently began to use a wheelchair. She is grieving the loss of her mobility and the frustration of feeling like people don’t treat her the same. She feels as though she has coped well with this disease for many years, but the recent loss of more of her abilities that defined her independence are causing her to go through a great deal of depression.
And sitting across the room you may find a woman in her seventies who has only recently discovered that she has a chronic illness and it is quickly changing her lifestyle! She is not one bit happy about going from being an active gal who felt 50 to nearly being home-bound. She is grieving the loss of abilities, especially her independence, especially since up until recently she was still able to drive safely.
Another point worth noting: As the facilitator, you have the ability to decide who you feel most comfortable inviting to your support group, and setting some healthy boundaries. Do not ever put yourself into the position where you feel you are outside of your comfort zone in an unwholesome way. For example, many women tend to lead within only groups since the subject matter can sometimes lead to conversations filled with vulnerabilities and intimacy, and it may not be the place to expose one’s emotions in a group where the divorce rate is already skyrocketing.
As you are leading your group you don’t worry about specifically addressing every situation that has been mentioned above, however, it is vital to keep in mind the variety of backgrounds and experiences that those who are attending your group bring with them when they enter the room.
By understanding not only their history, but also their personality, and how they best hope with their disease, you will have an improved capability to encourage them and find where their strength lay so that they in turn can encourage others.
Lisa Copen is the founder of Rest Ministries and National Invisible Chronic illness Awareness Week, as well as the author of Why Can’t I Make People Understand? If you are a small group leader or thinking of starting a group, don’t miss Lisa Copen’s new book, “How to Start a Chronic Illness Small Group Ministry.” Over 300 pages with step-by-step instructions on how to write a vision statement, promotion and attendance tips to what to do when everyone just vents your whole meeting. Discover hundreds of resources at Rest Ministries .
Popularity: 1% [?]
Facebook Brings Those With Chronic Illness Together for Invisible Illness Week
August 24, 2010 by admin
Filed under In The News, Online Ways to Help
One of the fastest growing ways for people to share the things they care about, including how health and illness issues impact their daily living, is through social media networks such as Facebook. Invisible Illness Week provides opportunities to connect with others to gain mutual support.
San Diego, CA — (SBWIRE) — 08/24/2010 –
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is September 13-19, 2010 and so far thousands of participants are showing their support through the social network, Facebook, the second largest site on the internet according to Alexa.com.
Lisa Copen, founder of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, which she established in 2002, says, “In 2009 our nonprofit organization included Facebook for the first time in our awareness campaign and the results had a significant impact we could not have imagined.”
Copen explains that when people who live with chronic invisible illness join an Invisible Illness Week group, a “Cause” or “Like” a page, it is a non-intrusive way of saying, “This is something that personally affects my life and that I care about.”
According to Copen, before social media, many people expressed that it was uncomfortable to email their friends or family illness-awareness related materials without creating feelings of being pushy or critical of their responses to illness. Now, by joining a cause on Facebook and inviting friends to join, it is much simpler to create awareness about daily life with invisible chronic pain.
It is particularly enlightening when someone with an illness invites friends to join the Invisible Illness Week Cause, and discovers how many friends are also suffering silently from conditions such as chronic migraines or fibromyalgia. “Sometimes those of us with illness forget that we may have loved ones who are also silently coping with invisible chronic conditions,” says Copen.
Approximately 7000 thousand people are a part of Invisible Illness Week’s presence on Facebook and Copen says she would love to see this number continue to grow. “We have some amazing articles, guest bloggers, and seminars that will help people know they are not alone in their pain and how to deal with the daily part of it even better.”
With nearly 1 in 2 Americans coping with a chronic condition, they are not alone, but the invisibility factor can make it feel that way.
To join one of Invisible Illness Week’s Facebook groups, causes or more see http://InvisibleIllnessOnFacebook.com.
Media Relations ContactLisa Copen
Coordinator
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
888-751-7378http://www.invisibleillness.com
Related articles by Zemanta
- Rainbow of Hope Sticky Notes Encourage People (invisibleillnessweek.com)
- Tweets to Spread the Word About Blogging for Invisible Illness Week (invisibleillnessweek.com)
- Press Release – Invisible Illness Week Seeks To Encourage Through Anonymous Notes of Kindness (invisibleillnessweek.com)
Popularity: 2% [?]
