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.

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 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.

Every year, PatientsLikeMe sponsors run/walk/bike teams around the country through PatientsLikeMeInMotion.

Led by a three-star member – someone with a complete health profile at PatientsLikeMe – each team receives bright blue PatientsLikeMe t-shirts, business cards and a donation towards their fundraising goal. Some of the events our members participate in include the Parkinson’s Unity Walk, the National Walk for Epilepsy (Epilepsy Foundation), the Walk to Defeat ALS (ALS Association) and Walk MS (National MS Society).

What’s happening this year?  2011 is off to a great start with 30 sponsored teams as of the end of June.  When you compare that to two years ago – when we sponsored around 40 teams for all of 2009 – you can see how the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program has grown.  Wondering whether any of these spring teams were raising awareness for your condition(s)?  Here’s the list of conditions represented for 2011 thus far:

• MS
• ALS
• Parkinson’s
• Cancer
• Epilepsy
• Autism
• Prader-Willi Syndrome
• Mental Health

We’re thrilled to support our members in this way, and we especially love seeing the positive connections that are forged when our members meet “offline” at these uplifting events.  That’s why we’ve asked PatientsLikeMeInMotion team members to submit their favorite photos from recent events.  Check out our Spring 2011 PatientsLikeMeInMotion Flickr Slideshow to see the enthusiasm firsthand:

We’ve also gotten some wonderful messages from team leaders this year that illustrate the impact of the program:

• “Thanks so much for everything, I can’t wait to give the team their shirts and wear them with pride.  You all are awesome.”

• “Thank you for sponsoring me in Walk MS! I am so grateful for your support, which brings me one step closer to achieving my fundraising goal. More importantly, it brings us one step closer toward a world free of multiple sclerosis.”

• “Our team enjoyed the t-shirts and stood out in the crowd in the bright turquoise. We also enjoyed answering questions from those who asked about the t-shirts and the website, about which we gladly shared information!”

Organizing a run/walk/bike team for late summer or fall? Sign your team up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion sponsorship today. (Please allow 3-4 weeks lead time.)

PatientsLikeMe was a proud sponsor of the 14th Annual Parkinson’s Unity Walk in New York City this past Saturday (April 26, 2008). Jeff Cole, Kate Brigham, Maureen Oakes and I (Lori Scanlon) were all onsite working at our sponsored booth. The event, which raised more than $1.3 million in donations this year, brought together thousands of people with Parkinson’s, their families and friends, support groups, non-profits and sponsoring organizations — all dedicated to advancing research and helping find a cure.

I said this onsite and I’ll say it again: The energy at the event was absolutely intoxicating! In addition to meeting hundreds of people who stopped by our booth to learn more about PatientsLikeMe, we were thrilled to finally meet some of our very own Parkinson’s Community members (and their families) face-to-face for the first time.

“Unity” is the perfect word to describe this event. We got to literally see thousands of people in the same place with the same goal, and it was nothing less than inspiring. We got to meet our members, who not only share their health information and experiences so openly on our site, but also opened their arms to welcome us “in”…it touched us all truly and deeply. We got to “feel the love,” as our members wore badges to represent those members who couldn’t be there. We then came home and read forum posts from the many more members who were at home watching us on the webcast and cheering on the walkers.

Here are a couple of many photos from the Unity Walk. Please take it all in. There was sunshine. There was energy. The smiles. The laughs. The love. The purpose. Can you feel it? Can you feel the (comm)unity? Good. Now, please pass it on…