27 Adar 1, 5776
My longtime real life friend Jesica Backal Meyers is an unusually wonderful person: Spirited, funny, and motivational. I have literally helped her to deal with her lifelong lymphedema, a painful, possibly debilitating accumulation of body fluids. Unmanaged, and sometimes despite the best management, lymphedema causes scarring from skin stretched past its elastic capacity.
Jes is helping to raise awareness about lymphedema, which causes many complications for people who have it. Here's her message, from Facebook:
Hi all,
Today marks the start of Lymphedema Awareness Month.
What only close family and friends know, is that I am a Lymphie Warrior (what those of us who have LE are called, and believe you me, a fierce warrior is what you HAVE to be to battle this nasty thing!). I have lived with this awful, unpredictable, often misdiagnosed, difficult to manage, debilitating disease since I was a little girl. Thankfully, right now, I have it relatively under control smile emoticon .
The reason I'm "coming out" now (and this is freakin' hard!), is that thousands of us Lymphies all over the world have made a promise that this is the year we will become pro-active in raising awareness of this disease in order to help others to identify LE, to get a correct diagnosis and to recognize the importance of embarking on the life-long, time-consuming, but imperative, protocol that controls the progression of LE (also finding a cure would be knda awesome). Please take a minute to read the infographic I attached to see if you or someone you know may be suffering from this condition. If you want more info, please feel free to pm me. BTW, I am very proud to say that Israel has an amazing LE support network!!!! May Hashem grant all of us a refuah shlayma from whatever ails us. . #curelymphedema #lymphiewarriors #staylymphiestrong#lymphedemaawarenessmonth
Today marks the start of Lymphedema Awareness Month.
What only close family and friends know, is that I am a Lymphie Warrior (what those of us who have LE are called, and believe you me, a fierce warrior is what you HAVE to be to battle this nasty thing!). I have lived with this awful, unpredictable, often misdiagnosed, difficult to manage, debilitating disease since I was a little girl. Thankfully, right now, I have it relatively under control smile emoticon .
The reason I'm "coming out" now (and this is freakin' hard!), is that thousands of us Lymphies all over the world have made a promise that this is the year we will become pro-active in raising awareness of this disease in order to help others to identify LE, to get a correct diagnosis and to recognize the importance of embarking on the life-long, time-consuming, but imperative, protocol that controls the progression of LE (also finding a cure would be knda awesome). Please take a minute to read the infographic I attached to see if you or someone you know may be suffering from this condition. If you want more info, please feel free to pm me. BTW, I am very proud to say that Israel has an amazing LE support network!!!! May Hashem grant all of us a refuah shlayma from whatever ails us. . #curelymphedema #lymphiewarriors #staylymphiestrong#lymphedemaawarenessmonth
Here's a website that explains how to care for yourself or for someone who has lymphedema: Key Points about Lymphedema.
Israel's lymphedema sites are in Hebrew, in English, and in Russian.
Need affordable, possibly no-cost medical equipment for your condition? Find out how to get some from the charitable organizations listed in the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge.
Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your mind with accurate information and reasonable choices.
