for me, it was helpful to get to meet and interact with so many other people who have day-to-day experiences similar to what goes on in our household - stiffness in the morning, pain throughout the day, swollen joints, unwanted side effects from all the medication. one woman, mary, told us that taking prednisone for years has caused her to develop medication-induced osteoporosis. we also met the walk honoree, a 4-year old named zoe, who has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
we also enjoyed getting to meet and chat with the helpful folks from the arthritis foundation and the aggies and arthritis club at texas a&m. many of them we knew by name from websites and emails, but i always enjoy getting to put a face with a name. even some of their moms came by to say hi!
it was also encouraging to see so many smiling happy people. i've been to similar events that felt depressing and hopeless...this was definitely not like that. now, it could have just been the free food from freebirds and cold stone, or maybe the moon-bounce and bungee-run, but i'm willing to bet it was really because the 150-ish walkers had raised over $14,000 to support arthritis prevention, research, and treatment.
after the walk (and naptime!), several of our teammates came over to our place for a cookout and a chance to just hang out and watch football. today has primarily been recovery time, both from the festivities yesterday and, for gabs, the usual flu-like effects of methotrexate.
thanks again to everyone who sponsored, organized, volunteered, donated, and attended the arthritis walk, both on our team and in general. it was a great first experience, and we both look forward to making this an annual event.
2 comments:
When I walk with arthritis pain,It was awakrd.I read articles inarthritisreliefhelp.info and learned to reduce pain.Now it is little easy to walk with reduced to pain
Gabriele/Andy,
I find your blog very informative and I think it provides candid insights into what it is like to live with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and how the disease impacts everyday life.
I work for Centocor, a biomedicines company that is involved in the research, development and marketing of prescription therapies for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. Earlier this year we announced the results of two surveys, which we conducted in an effort to gain new insights into rheumatoid arthritis from the perspective of people living with RA as well as physicians treating the disease. The name of the survey and resulting awareness effort is called GeneRAtions. We segmented the results in order to communicate different perspectives (both from people living with RA and from physicians) over a 30 year period, or a generation. You can view the results at the website, which is www.ragenerations.com.
We found some interesting statistics such as -- among of all the people living with RA that were surveyed, two out of three said their friends and family underestimate the impact of their disease, and more than half said the public doesn't understand the difference between RA and osteoarthritis.
If you have an opportunity to review the site, I would be interested in your thoughts/insights. Our goal through this effort has been to raise awareness and further understanding about RA and to reignite discussions about a disease that has a tremendous impact on those people that are both directly and indirectly affected.
Thanks for your time in reading this message and for what you are doing through your blog to share your story and inform others about what it is like to live with RA.
Very best,
Brian
Brian Kenney
Centocor, Inc.
Corporate Communications
Post a Comment