When I learned my baby had an incurable disease that I had never heard of and most doctors knew little about, and that his treatment supplies weren’t even going to be covered by insurance, I was distraught, as you can imagine. But today, just eight years later, I am hopeful about the progress being made.
These changes can’t come fast enough, but real strides are being made in awareness, education, research, and insurance coverage. Today, on Lymphedema Awareness Day, I hope we can all celebrate just how far we’ve come, and resolve to stand up, speak out, and meet the challenges still ahead of us.
Our walkathon wrapped up last weekend and was a huge success! We deeply appreciate the many individual donations we received. We are incredibly grateful for the additional generous support from Jobst, JoViPak, Juzo, Lohmann & Rauscher, LympheDIVAs, medi and Solaris. And we would also like to thank Jobst, Juzo, Lohmann & Rauscher, and Solaris, for their 2016 pledges.
We are now over 90% of the way to reaching our total fundraising goal for this year, so if you meant to contribute but just hadn’t had a chance, you can still do so via PayPal, or by mailing a check to: Lymphedema Advocacy Group, PO Box 1682, Carrboro, NC 27510.
Lastly, we want to make sure you are aware of two unique upcoming opportunities:
The 1st International Symposium on Lipedema will be held in New York City on April 17th and 18th. Details and registration information can be found here. At the Friday night reception two films will be premiered – one about Lipedema and another mini-documentary about the Lymphedema Treatment Act.
The 25th World Congress of Lymphology will be taking place in San Francisco, September 7th-11th, with a two-day patient summit on September 8th and 9th. For general information click here, and for the patient summit click here.
I hope you can take the opportunity to do something nice for yourself today – Happy Lymphedema Awareness Day!
Heather Ferguson
Founder and Executive Director
Lymphedema Advocacy Group
www.LymphedemaTreatmentAct.org
info@LymphedemaTreatmentAct.org
