The Value of Openness: The PatientsLikeMe Blog

Please meet ALS patient alsgirl (front and center in the wheelchair), who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team at the 2011 Walk to Defeat ALS in Dallas, Texas.  A longtime PatientsLikeMe member who is part of the ALS Public Registry, alsgirl has been living with this degenerative disorder – also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease – for 16 years.

Congrats to alsgirl and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your health condition. We’re honored to support you along your journey.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our growing Flickr slideshow.  (And if you’re a PatientsLikeMeInMotion team leader who has NOT sent in photos, we encourage you to do so.  You just might be featured on the blog next!)

Thinking about organizing a team for spring?  Learn more about the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program today.

Please meet ALS patient iceberg (front right), who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team at the 2011 Walk to Defeat ALS in Western Pennsylvania.  We count at least 25 bright blue PatientsLikeMeInMotion t-shirts worn by the team (called “Hrezo’s Heroes”), making this one of the biggest groups we’ve sponsored!

Congrats to iceberg and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your health condition. We’re honored to support you along your journey.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our growing Flickr slideshow.

Thinking about organizing a team for next spring?  Learn more about the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program today.

Last week we kicked off a new blog series featuring patient bloggers, and today, we’re pleased to present our second installment.  Please meet Steve Ploussard, a longtime PatientsLikeMe member who writes a blog about living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) called “Attitude & Fitness Wins.”  Steve decided that blogging was the perfect way to “come out” about his Parkinson’s diagnosis and become more at ease with it. Check out our interview with Steve below to learn how he developed his “fighting spirit,” what he’s doing to raise PD awareness and who inspires him the most.

1.  What’s it been like “going public” about Parkinson’s on your blog?

Going public (“My Coming-Out Party”) on my blog has been a very emotional experience for me.  When I clicked “Publish” after writing the post, I felt as if the weight of the world was off my shoulders.  I became relaxed when talking about having PD with my family and friends just knowing they had read my blog and finally knew I had the disease.  I believe one of the reasons my tremors have become less frequent and not as pronounced is that I’m more comfortable with whom I am, a 55- year-old man with Parkinson’s.

I had basically been trying to hide that I had PD for seven years. Just try keeping a secret (of the magnitude of having Parkinson’s) for seven years.  It wears on you and can consume you if you let it.  Going public has also allowed me to create awareness of what Parkinson’s disease really does to a human being and their family.  The perception most have is that the disease is life-threatening and some have similar thoughts as if I had cancer and was going to die from it.  I use the opportunity to educate that PD does not kill you.  It only makes it more difficult to live a normal life due to the symptoms.

2.  What role does PatientsLikeMe’s Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (PDRS) play in your disease management?

The PDRS is the only tool I am aware of that a patient can actually use to track the progression of PD.  I have taken the test (a series of multiple choice questions about everyday activity) at least once a quarter for the past four years, and it has helped me immensely, especially from an emotional standpoint.  When I first took the test back in November 2007, my score between 0 to 100 (100 being the worst or the furthest along with Parkinson’s) was 7.  Just before I started to answer this question today, I took the test and scored an 11.  My high was a 22 back in May 2011.

Obviously, I have a very slow progression of the disease. That gives me confidence I can live a normal life for years to come.  The PDRS may not be an exact science, but it does give us a baseline in measuring PD.  Your score can be used in determining what your next step is in fighting the disease and/or increasing or decreasing your medication(s).  Over the years, every time I meet someone with Parkinson’s, I ask if they are aware of PatientsLikeMe.  If not, I direct them to the website and explain about the benefits of the site, emphasizing the use of the PDRS.

3.  What’s some of the best advice you’ve gotten from other PatientsLikeMe members?

The information and history on the PatientsLikeMe website of approximately 6,000 members [with PD] is phenomenal.  The wealth of knowledge you have at your fingertips is extremely powerful.  If you have PD and are not member, you are simply missing out.  Neurologists specializing in Parkinson’s, in my humble opinion, should have PatientsLikeMe and the forum as required reading in their daily practice.

The following is one example of an experience I had recently with PatientsLikeMe.  At 3:00 a.m. one morning, not able to sleep, I went online to the PatientsLikeMe website.  The following is an outtake I posted on the [Parkinson’s] forum within PatientsLikeMe:

“Over the past 2 years I have tried to go on Carbidopa/Levodopa 3 times, the 3rd time being this past week, in hopes it would help control my increasing tremors.  And now for the 3rd time I am stopping due to the side effects.  For the 3rd night in a row I could not sleep due to the constant high anxiety/buzzing feeling along with uncontrollable gyrations of my head and arms.”

Within 24 hours, four members responded with their advice, which was basically to start with a lower dosage and increase very slowly, but to give the drug a chance.  J. Marley, Lexiegirl, Parkinson’s Pete and equus, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I made the dosage change and gave the drug a chance and now Carbidopa-Levodopa [brand name Sinemet] is my friend.

4.  You talk a lot about your fighting spirit on your blog.  Where do you draw inspiration and strength?

Good question.  My #1 inspiration in fighting the disease is having the right attitude and conviction to win the battles and the war against PD. This is why I am so obsessed with proper fitness and working out every day.  I made the commitment back in September 2009 that, at the very minimum, I would go to the gym six days a week and do 60 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of weights and 15 minutes of abdominal work.  I am currently in the best shape of my life, which is an extreme confidence booster that I can win the war and hold off this disease until we find a cure.

Outside my family, there are three men that I draw inspiration and strength from almost daily.  They are Coach Jim Valvano (“Jimmy V”), Michael J. Fox and Mohammed Ali.  This past week was the anniversary of Jimmy V’s memorable speech at the ESPY awards on ESPN, when he was still alive fighting cancer.  I have heard and played the speech so many times I can almost recite it by heart.  The main strength I draw on is what Coach Valvano asked us all to try and do each day.  We need to be deep in thought about something important to us every day.  Each day we need to laugh and enjoy life.  And lastly, each day we need to have emotions that move us to tears.  If we can have deep thought, laughter and cry in the same day, that’s a BIG DAY.  The tagline of the V Foundation, “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up” is the mission statement on my blog (www.AttitudeFitnessWins.com).

As we go through life, we all have our heroes we look up to for inspiration.  For me that has changed as I have gotten older and hopefully wiser.  When I was young, my heroes were sports stars like Mickey Mantle, Pete Maravich and Jack Nicklaus.  In my adult life family members have become my heroes and support as I fight PD and try and live a normal life.  My Dad, my Mom, my Uncle Jack, to name a few, have always inspired me to be the best I can be.

Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, my motivation to make an impact and help others living with PD comes from Michael J. Fox and Mohammed Ali, both of which have had Parkinson’s for many years.  Michael J. Fox is an incurable optimist that I have respected since reading his book, “Always Looking Up.”  His quest through his foundation in finding a cure for the disease in his lifetime is unsurpassed and is my Holy Grail.  And then there is The Greatest, Mohammed Ali.  My blog’s mantra, “Attitude & Fitness Wins,” says it all.  I draw strength and a confident attitude every time I see it.  His jubilation and his commitment to fitness and being a winner are attributes I want to portray in my life and hopefully pass on to others and have an impact on their lives as well.

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To find out more about PD, check out our follow-up blog post, “Life with Parkinson’s Disease: What We’ve Learned.”

Please meet multiple sclerosis (MS) patient hotmama08, who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team that included two four-legged advocates at Walk MS in Columbia, SC, on May 14, 2011.  We especially love how the team member to the right wore bright blue shoes to match her PatientsLikeMeInMotion t-shirt!

Congrats to hotmama08 and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your health condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way. For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our growing Flickr slideshow.

Thinking about organizing a team for next spring?  Learn more about the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program today.

Please meet Parkinson’s disease (PD) patient Judith, who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team at the Parkinson’s Unity Walk in New York City last April.  Held annually in Central Park, this massive grassroots event donates 100% of funds raised to PD research.

Congrats to Judith and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our Flickr gallery.

Thinking about organizing a team for next spring?  Learn more about the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nonprofit and “Not Just for Profit” Announce Collaboration at PartneringForCures Event

NEW YORK, NY - November 7, 2011 - Today, PatientsLikeMe and R.A.R.E Project, a nonprofit advocacy and support group for patients with all rare diseases, announce a new partnership to find and connect 1 million rare disease patients to share and learn everything possible about their conditions.  The organizations, co-presenting at the PartneringForCures event today in New York, are launching an international rare disease awareness campaign in 2012.

“There are 35 million patients in the U.S. with 7,000+ rare diseases and we want to find them, connect them and support them in sharing and learning by their specific disease and across all rare diseases,” says Dean Suhr, Chief Innovation and Community Development Officer at R.A.R.E.  “We’re excited to work with PatientsLikeMe because their open patient registry allows patients to contribute to research, while getting immediate benefits, like improved quality of life, from sharing this information with others.”

The goal of this collaboration between R.A.R.E and PatientsLikeMe, an online health community that started in 2005 for rare disease patients and is now open to everyone, is to allow for better shared learning and acceleration of discovery by rapidly connecting patients to researchers, companies, nonprofits and patients like them. The partners will combine resources to provide patients with the opportunity to make online and local in-person connections, engage nonprofits and local specialists, and contribute their health data to the open patient registry at PatientsLikeMe. Unlike other registries, PatientsLikeMe allows patients to query the data to compare their medical data to others with similar diseases, symptoms, or therapies so they can also compare their data across other diseases.

“The key to accelerating research for any patients, although particularly powerful for those with rare conditions, is to have efficient access to well characterized patient populations willing to be part of research,” adds Jamie Heywood, Co-founder and Chairman of PatientsLikeMe. “It’s terrifying to think you’re alone and manage your rare illness with a doctor who might not have ever seen another patient like you. We will change that.”

For more about the R.A.R.E Project, including current awareness campaigns, go to: http://rareproject.org.  For patients and nonprofits that want to join PatientsLikeMe, go to http://www.patientslikeme.com.

ABOUT R.A.R.E PROJECT

The R.A.R.E. Project exists to raise rare disease awareness, unify and empower a vibrant global rare disease community, and fund innovations to support ‘in-their-lifetime’ rare disease research.

ABOUT PATIENTSLIKEME

PatientsLikeMe® (www.patientslikeme.com) is the world’s leading online health data sharing platform. PatientsLikeMe® creates new knowledge by charting the real-world course of disease through the shared experiences of patients. While patients interact to help improve their outcomes, the data they provide helps researchers learn how these diseases act in the real world and accelerate the discovery of new, more effective treatments. [Follow company news on www.twitter.com/PatientsLikeMe and http://blog.patientslikeme.com]

For someone who uses a wheelchair, there are barriers and hazards everywhere – things that others may not see. But how do you raise visibility of the issue?

One of our longtime MS members, gamma, decided that a photo essay of the obstacles that exist in her neighborhood (considered a wheelchair-friendly community) and others would the best way to illustrate the problem. “My hope is that when this presentation is completed I can get it into the hands of people that can use it to raise awareness about unsafe situations for the wheelchair or stroller user,” she says.

What’s an example of a hazard or barrier? Wheelchair users at PatientsLikeMe – who number more than 1,300 and use both powered and manual wheelchairs – report having difficulty with potholes, cobblestone entrances, uneven sidewalks, narrow aisles, yellow bumps on ramps, heavy doors and more. But it’s easier to “see” these hazards and barriers than just list them. That’s why gamma is calling for photo submissions.

Have you encountered something in your neighborhood that would pose problems for a wheelchair user? Snap a photo to aid this grassroots patient project. Then send it to shalegamma@aol.com along with your full name for credit. Thanks in advance for your contribution!

Please meet the youngest supporters of MS member Not Awake, who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team at a Walk MS event in Springfield, Missouri, this spring. Although our bright blue t-shirts are offered in adult sizes only, you’ll see that this young fellow was able to wear a creatively adapted version nonetheless.

We’ve shared a lot of great photos on the blog lately of run/walk teams sponsored by PatientsLikeMeInMotion this year. Now you can learn more about this dynamic program in a more dynamic format with our new PatientsLikeInMotion video. Find out how to get involved, what sponsorship entails and how much PatientsLikeMe has donated towards our sponsored teams’ fundraising efforts since the program’s inception.

Ready to get out there and raise awareness and funds for your condition? Let us support you every step of the way. Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today.

A multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis affects the whole family, which is why it can be great to get the whole family involved in awareness activities. Please meet PatientsLikeMeInMotion team leader PepsiGirl, who was supported by several family members at a 2011 Walk MS event in her home state of New York.

Congrats to PepsiGirl and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today

For a newly diagnosed patient, organizing a run/walk/bike team sponsored by PatientsLikeMeInMotion can be a way to take action, “go public” and make new connections. Please meet Monkey Mamma, who was diagnosed with epilepsy last year, at the Epilepsy Foundation’s Stroll for Epilepsy on April 9, 2011, in Dallas, Texas.

Congrats to Monkey Mamma and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today

A number of our ALS and PLS members use wheelchairs, but that doesn’t keep them from participating in awareness walks sponsored by PatientsLikeMeInMotion. Please meet Power Mom, a grandmother of six who led a team at the Walk to Defeat ALS in Long Island, New York.

Congrats to Power Mom and all of our sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you along your journey.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today.

When our members organize a run/walk/bike team sponsored by PatientsLikeMeInMotion, it’s often a family affair involving multiple generations. Below is a great shot of member Hapeone along with her daughter at the 2011 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Walk in Dallas, Texas.

Congrats to Hapeone and all of our sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more inspiring PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today.

As we mentioned in our blog post last week, our PatientsLikeMeInMotion program is off to a running start this year with more than 30 sponsored teams thus far. What does one of these run/walk/bike teams look like? Below is Team Sylvan, a 40-person team led by ALS patient Panda155.

Decked out in bright blue PatientsLikeMe t-shirts, Team Sylvan took to the streets for the ALSTDI Cure Is Coming Walk, held on May 7, 2011, in Lexington, Massachusetts. This is the third year that they’ve been sponsored by PatientsLikeMeInMotion, which makes them one of our veteran superstar teams.

Congrats to Team Sylvan and all of our sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more inspiring PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today.