Scleroderma Awareness Month

“This post was sponsored by Scleroderma as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.”

 I worked as a home health nurse for quite a few years, and for the most part, loved it. I saw many interesting cases, and came to love my patients! Some patients touched me more than others, and one case that I will always remember was a middle-aged woman with Scleroderma. Her illness was quite advanced and she began to have lung problems that can be associated with this auto-immune illness. Eventually her case became really bad as other organs became involved in the illness, and hospice had to be involved. This case in not the usual, and actually the 5 year survival rate from diagnosis is upwards of 80%. 

When a person is first diagnosed with this illness, they are often so confused, and they do not know where to turn. Scleroderma is not something as common as heart disease or cancer, so we often do not know anyone else that has it and the sufferers of it often feel alone and isolated. It IS pretty rare, and only effects about one in 906 people and predominately only effects females between ages of 30-50.  For this reason, June is Scleroderma Awareness Month. This is the time that there is a push to educate the clueless, and also help the suffers find a support system to deal with the emotional impact this illness can have. 

Symptoms of Scleroderma:

• joint pain
• hardening skin
• lung scarring
• digestive issues
• pain from all above issues 

What you need to know:

 People suffering from this debilitating illness often feel alone and isolated. Take a pledge to raise awareness of this illness and help provide some small measure of comfort to them. Raising awareness means more research will be done to better understand and treat this disease. Right now, very little is known about it and as far as we know there is no cause and there is no cure in site. Help the Scleroderma Foundation, Scleroderma Research Foundation, and the Scleroderma Society of Canada to join forces to help increase awareness for Scleroderma. We would love you to participate in the Thunderclap on this issue on World Scleroderma Day, June 29. In the meantime, please sign the pledge of support, and share the site on your social media so your friends can learn more about it too!

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   This post was sponsored by Scleroderma and financial compensation was received for this post. The sponsor and any compensation received for this post in no way affected my opinion or any statements presented in this post. Top Notch Material blog always provides honest opinions, beliefs or experiences on products and services reviewed. If you have any questions or would like your product, service or company featured on Top Notch Material, please contact Paige from Top Notch Material at nursemommypaige at yahoo dot com. The disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.