Not only happy to be alive but also grateful to celebrate 5 years of Lymphie Strong! It’s so hard to believe that in 2015, I started with a one post blog and 74 people in one group.
Read on as I attempt to encapsulate 5 years of lymphedema advocacy and patient driven initiatives.
Today the blog has reached 166 countries and our private group members total 8,774 in 3 groups. This pandemic has us separated but hopefully soon we will all come together again, so I decided to share a few photos from events and memories in recent years in honor of that hope!
Online Support Communities
From our groups the #MOVETHATLYMPH challenge series was born in 2017, a program to help members commit to their lymphatic health through a series of virtual challenges. Juzo USA has championed this program for 3 years, and we will have hosted 25 events reaching members from 16 different countries by the end of 2020. Visiting the Juzo headquarters in Ohio and meeting fellow Ambassadors was unforgettable.
We began to host speakers/webinars in our main group in 2018 via FB Live and now via Zoom and Lymphie Strong – YouTube which has also had a global reach impact of providing patient education opportunities to our community. JOBST USA and LymphCare USA have supported this initiative since late 2018, and we are thankful for their support. Below are just a few examples of speakers we have had.
Our Lymphie Strong Cafe was torn down and rebuilt this year. Since then we have grown and matured over time with members identifying their food triggers and sharing their journey into using food to manage swelling. We will be launching a cooking series beginning on Oct 8th thanks to Xpandasox. The group is super excited to kick this off!
More Activities
Additional recent highlights include
- Lymphie Strong FB group is listed as a resource on the Lymphedema Treatment Act website
- Shared my patient story at the 2018 Lighthouse Lymphedema Network Conference
- Shared at the Lymphedema Patient Symposium by BIDMC /Harvard both in 2018 and 2019
- Attended the inaugural Camp WatchMe for kids with LE in Oklahoma
- The Lymphie Strong Running & Fitness Club was a a patient story topic at the 2019 National Lymphedema Network Conference
Last but not least, I am proud to volunteer as the Chair of the TX Chapter of LE&RN since 2017 as well and led the inaugural Greater Houston TX LE&RN to Fight Lymphedema and Lymphatic Diseases in Richmond, TX in 2018.
Collaborations
Catch Lymphie Strong on Natural Health Resources, Lymphedema Podcast, Lymph Logic, and most recently Conversationaly: Thriving With Lymphedema. We also collaborated with Fluid Running, BrightLife Direct, Pandere Shoes, and Luna Medical’s Absoyogalutely to name a few.
Thank You
The Lymphie Strong public pages across FB, IG, and Twitter continue to grow with each passing day. Thank you so much for following or joining us. If I missed anyone, it is not by intention. My only regret is that my late father is not here to celebrate but I know he’s watching over me.
We thank all of our industry partners, speakers, fellow patient organizations, collaboration partners, and friends for their steadfast and unwavering support and friendship especially in the wake of my recent illness. Here’s to many more great years of standing up to Lymphedema with all of our faith, power, and might.