A few months ago, we asked our social media followers to share your best tips for getting started with chronic illness, using the hashtag #chronicillness101….
Community
Disability and finding financial peace
Caring Voice Coalition’s Senior Patient Advocate Lauren Patrizio offers resources and advice for finding financial peace while navigating the SSA disability process. Having a disability…
Close up: Lindsey Sullivan
I settled in the Richmond area in 2013. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor’s degree in social work, I was offered a…
Caring for your caregiver
Caregivers do a lot for their loved ones. But they aren’t invincible. Finding your own ways to show care for your caregiver can strengthen your…
Q&A: National Alliance for Caregiving
Q&A with National Alliance for Caregiving President and CEO Gail Gibson Hunt. What does the National Alliance for Caregiving do? The National Alliance for Caregiving…
HD caregiver in training
Greg Compton is the primary caregiver for his wife, Lisa. She has Huntington’s disease. I don’t see myself as a caregiver, at least not yet….
America’s Caregivers
Statistics come from a 2015 comprehensive research report by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving surveying more than 1,200 caregivers,…
15 encouraging quotes for your chronic illness journey
Healing “These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.” –Rumi, The Essential Rumi “Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember….
Prepared patient checklist
When living with chronic illness, especially a rare and life-threatening one, doctor visits are frequent and part of the routine. To be your best advocate,…
Close up: Nellie Capehart
I have been married for close to six years, to a loving and supportive husband and we have two bright and beautiful little girls under…
At a glance: Factor XIII
The body makes 13 blood-clotting factors and if any are deficient, blood doesn’t clot properly and a bleeding disorder results. The Factor XIII protein stabilizes…
Faith and hope in life with Phelan-McDermid syndrome
Jodi Frunzi’s 16-year-old son, Michael, loves making friends and talking on the phone. She describes his life with Phelan-McDermid syndrome. When our son Michael was…
Healing attitude in PH
Lisa Skeeters Lisa Skeeters explains how a close-knit group of friends is the best medicine for her pulmonary hypertension. I was born with a congenital…
Recognizing anxiety in chronic illness
Change is often frightening, and being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a particularly scary change. Dreams and aspirations are shattered or altered. Thoughts of…
Staying covered: Health care open enrollment
Fall is the season of change and, thus, the perfect backdrop for the annual open enrollment periods for both Medicare and the individual insurance market….