May 12, 2002 is going to be an important date for me, and perhaps
for you
as well. May 12th is national Fibromyalgia Awareness day and
in the year
2002 a march is planned to converge on Washington DC.
What we hope to accomplish with this march is several things:
1. We want to raise awareness of Fibromyalgia and how it affects
not only
us but our loved ones as well. One way we will be doing this is
by
presenting to Congress a book of your stories. You can see those
at the
Our Voices website. If any want to contribute your story as well,
please
feel free to e-mail me. (Melanie) The web site address is:
http://www.geocities.com/fibromyalgia_stories/Our_Voices.html
and my
e-mail address is fmilypals@moorheadcity.com
2. We want to increase funding for research for FMS/MPS/CFS a website
that explains this is up now, more will be added over the course
of the
planning but the basic details are there along with a petition you
are
welcome to copy off and get signatures. Even if you can’t attend
the
march in 2002 the petitions will help a lot to get our voices heard.
So
any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Tracy is handling
this
part of the march, and the organizing as well.. You can e-mail her
at
fibrofight@hotmail.com and check out her web site at:
http://www.geocities.com/tlloeffler/FibroFight.html
3. It is our hope that we can get the title of FMS changed, we feel
Fibromyalgia is not a syndrome but is a Disease. So this will be
one of
the issues we will be bringing up as well.
4. The petitions and the books with your stories in it will be hand
delivered to congress by Tracy and myself. It is our hope that as
many
people with FMS will be there, or will have someone there to represent
them. We also hope that even if you can’t be there physically you
will be
there in spirit. It is our time to make our voices heard, and to
pave the
path for the many after us that will be facing this disease.
Our doctors need to be more informed as to what FMS is, and to the
fact
that it is not an all in your head illness. Social Security needs
to be
aware how debilitating FMS is. Our friends, neighbors, loved ones
need to
understand what is going on with us. This nation needs to be aware
of FMS
and that it is not just some yuppy syndrome but affects all ages
of all
walks of life.
So we are coming to you in the hopes some here will want to join
in.
Please feel free to pass this information on to any that you feel
may be
interested. Let’s get the word out.
And again mark your calendars:
May 12, 2002
Thanks you!
Melanie and Tracy