After being diagnosed with a rare disease, there’s often a myriad of questions that follow: What am I going to do? What is this disease? Is it curable? And the…
For 90-95% of people living with sarcoidosis, the disease affects their lungs. As granulomas grow throughout the organs, they may experience coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, and sometimes even…
It's unfair, but Hollywood thinks narcolepsy is funny. Over and over, characters suffering from the rare neurological disorder are portrayed as buffoons, falling asleep face down in their chicken soup,…
If you live in Connecticut, and happen to have a rare disease, efforts are being made to help make your voice heard. When you're one in a very few, it…
Dysautonomia (dis-aw-tuh-noh-mee-uh or dis-auto-noh-meeuh) is surprisingly common. Around the world, an estimated 70 million people are impacted by autonomic nervous system disorders. And while some forms are fairly rare, there are…
You know what they say about a guy with big feet... ...he's also got a BIG dictionary, ya know, since he's probably had to research acromegaly. Okay, maybe they don't say…
When lives hang in the balance, should the needs of a few trump the bottom line? That question was all too real for one Australian mother, Shanna Druisi. As reported in…
It's no secret that people are more dependent on technology than ever. We've got computers in our cars, TVs on our phones, and WiFi on our airplanes. It shouldn't be…
Double D's. And not the good kind. Disease and Depression. All too often, after being diagnosed with a chronic illness, patients just give up. They withdraw. They stop trying. They…
Meet Emily Deaton, 21, of Mechanicsville, Virginia. Like many people with invisible illnesses, Emily's journey to an accurate diagnosis was more of a nightmare than a dream. Emily has a disease of…
When I joined millions of other obsessed fans who watched what’s become the wildly popular “Bubble Boy” episode on Seinfeld back in 1992, I had no idea there was a shred…
How much do you think the average five-year-old girl weighs? According to kidshealth.org, the answer is about 45 pounds. Now, how much do you think a wheelchair for that same…
Here's the scenario: a woman and a man walk into the emergency room with the same symptoms. Both have terrible pain in their abdominal region. The man is immediately brought…
Just because Halloween has passed doesn't mean we're done talking about brain surgery. Specifically, deep brain stimulation therapy. No, this isn't something like Frankenstein's monster. Deep brain stimulation therapy is…
Jake Conaway learned how dangerous hereditary angioedema (HAE) can be when he was just seven years old. That’s when his father died because of the rare genetic condition, which occurs in about…
When you're diagnosed with ankylosing spondyliltis (AS), the last thing you want to do is work out. Unless, of course, you're Nate Lewnes. College senior, Nate, may no longer be…
Who knew that dystonia and tennis go hand-in-hand?! For twenty-year-old Josh, it's a match made in heaven. He's been fascinated with tennis his whole life and refused to let dystonia…
What did Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, Academy Award-winning actor Sir Lawrence Olivier, and a four-year-old girl named Hattie, have in common? They all had or have a neurological disease that affected their muscles called…
Back in 2009, a nasty strain of the flu, namely swine flu, raced around the globe knocking people down like bowling pins. The first reports of this new flu came out…
Getting a diagnosis of any kind is scary. Getting a diagnosis of a rare, life-threatening autoimmune disease that you have never heard of is terrifying. But if you’re reading this,…
Hospitals are germ-ridden, bacteria-infested places. Hospital-acquired infections—especially staph infections—are known to be a leading cause of death among hospitalized patients. For those of us with immune systems compromised by chronic illnesses…
Understanding of cystic fibrosis (CF) has, thankfully, come a long way from its earliest descriptions of children being “bewitched” or “hexed” because their sweat tasted of salt. And the life-expectancy of kids…
When Hagan's mom tells the 12-month-old Irish boy that he's one in a million, she isn't kidding--and it's not exactly a compliment, either. Those odds refer to the fact that…
"I wish people would just take five minutes to look up Ehlers-Danlos syndrome to raise awareness." These are the words of 15-year-old Mya Lilly Hurst, an Australian girl who suffers from…
If you or your loved one is living with a rare chronic disease, you’ve probably gone through the various stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and hopefully acceptance. Depending…
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