March will mark the beginning of yet another Endometriosis Awareness month. Is the public, referring to those without the disease, any more aware of this condition than they have been in the past? The past year has marked a few celebrities who have come out with being diagnosed with the disease, Dancing with Stars Julianne Hough, and Lacey Schwimmer come to mind, as well as Stephanie St. James, Broadway Star of the "The Color Purple". In the case of the ladies from Dancing with the Stars, the media, at least in my opinion, did a poor job at explaining the realities of this disease. EndoChick blogged extensively on the inaccuracies portrayed during their health disclosure to the media. For more information, please see her blog.
Stephanie St. James has done a fantastic interview with iVillage posted on YouTube in regards to the disease. Another video of her speaking on endometriosis is also available on YouTube.
While it is nice to see more individuals ith celebrity status sharing their personal battles with this disease, it would be even nicer to see a national-wide magazine or newspaper carry a story that accurately reflects what this disease is all about and just how much it interferes in a person's quality of life.
To that end, my good friend Jeanne Endo has created an on-going petition that she would like anyone who desires having more awareness about this disease created, to sign. This will help show in numbers to the various editors and publishers just how many of us out there would really want to see this information in print. Please help Jeanne collect as many signatures as possible through visiting her blog and signing the petition. You may also wish to direct others to her site to sign as well. The more individuals who sign, the more likely the media will be willing to hear our case out.
Jeanne's petition is located at: GoPetitions
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5 comments:
Hi Melissa!
I confess that I haven't even read this post yet (and can't wait to do so)!
Right now, I'm busily plugging our cause on twitter. I'll be back here later!
I just plugged your blog on twitter.
Jeanne
Okay, I've tried several times to post from my blackberry...it has failed thus far.
I just wanted to say I was thinking about you, and, CONGRATS on the pregnancy!!!!! :)
Melissa,
Sorry for the delay is commenting! Things have been very busy in "endo-land"!!
Thank you so much for spreading the word about the petition!! I really appreciate it!
Jeanne
I do not think that the public is more aware of endometriosis because of the celebrities, unfortunately. Take the horrible Dancing With The Stars confession. They claim they have endo without having the surgery to confirm. Okay, so then they take 2 days off and boom their back feeling fine? No, that's not endo. So now the public thinks that endo patients can just "feel better" after 2 days, and that certainly is not the case.
It is unfortunate that the public is not more aware of chronic illnesses. Doctors included.
I'm stopping by from jeanne's blog!
I hope the recent stories will help educate the general public about endo. However, people tend to ignore what is going on in the world unless the media sensationalizes it (octomom for example) or it happens to them.
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