Yesterday, the ICA posted what I felt was an outstanding, positive and helpful post for everyone in the IC community. It said, simply, "You Are Not Alone" and included a link to the ICA website with some excellent resources for patients to check out.
This really resonated with me. We have all come together on the ICA Facebook page and created a "community" where we support, encourage and share information with each other. But the ICA is also a very important part of this community. Without them, the very Facebook page where many of us connected and in many cases, developed friendships, would not exist and we would never have met.
We are NOT alone. Not only do we have the relationships we have created online with each other, but we have the ICA who works tirelessly for each and every one of us suffering with IC. Their work is important and they are doing more and more every single day to help raise awareness via many different avenues: social media, the Billboard campaign, the ICA website, Facebook, Patient Forums, lobbying Capitol Hill for additional research funds, creating a great new educational tool for doctors to use to learn more about IC and even get CME credit for it!
The support from the ICA may seem, to some, "intangible" but if you look at it closer, you'll see what they do each and every single day to help each of us.
We are not alone. We have each other. It never ceases to amaze me how supportive everyone on the ICA Facebook page is. Sharing experiences, treatments, successes, struggles. Whatever they can to help another patient deal with their IC.
This is a wonderful thing. To know we are not alone. That we have so many individuals, that in most cases, we have only met online, helping us through our IC journey. That we have a great organization in the ICA working so hard to find better treatments, provide resources, support and information is a blessing.
I really was moved by that post yesterday and wanted to put my two cents in on the subject. Without the support of our fellow IC patients, the ICA and anyone else in your life that you feel supports you, this would be an even harder challenge than it already is.
No, we are definitely not alone!
This really resonated with me. We have all come together on the ICA Facebook page and created a "community" where we support, encourage and share information with each other. But the ICA is also a very important part of this community. Without them, the very Facebook page where many of us connected and in many cases, developed friendships, would not exist and we would never have met.
We are NOT alone. Not only do we have the relationships we have created online with each other, but we have the ICA who works tirelessly for each and every one of us suffering with IC. Their work is important and they are doing more and more every single day to help raise awareness via many different avenues: social media, the Billboard campaign, the ICA website, Facebook, Patient Forums, lobbying Capitol Hill for additional research funds, creating a great new educational tool for doctors to use to learn more about IC and even get CME credit for it!
The support from the ICA may seem, to some, "intangible" but if you look at it closer, you'll see what they do each and every single day to help each of us.
We are not alone. We have each other. It never ceases to amaze me how supportive everyone on the ICA Facebook page is. Sharing experiences, treatments, successes, struggles. Whatever they can to help another patient deal with their IC.
This is a wonderful thing. To know we are not alone. That we have so many individuals, that in most cases, we have only met online, helping us through our IC journey. That we have a great organization in the ICA working so hard to find better treatments, provide resources, support and information is a blessing.
I really was moved by that post yesterday and wanted to put my two cents in on the subject. Without the support of our fellow IC patients, the ICA and anyone else in your life that you feel supports you, this would be an even harder challenge than it already is.
No, we are definitely not alone!
What an inspiring post, Catherine! You hit the nail on the head -- without support, IC would indeed be an even harder challenge than it already is! A big thanks goes out to you and all the other wonderful, supportive people in our Facebook community, www.facebook.com/interstitialcystitisassociation. You all help us to make the community a positive and inviting atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS SO MUCH!
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