This October, I was elected to serve as the President of the Vasculitis Foundation. After serving on the Board of Directors for the past 7 years, it is a tremendous honor to serve my final year on the Board as President. I was diagnosed with Vasculitis in June 2006 and the past 12 years have been a series of ups and downs, with countless prescriptions, blood tests, chemotherapeutic infusions, and symptoms and side effects. Yet, because of the Vasculitis Foundation, I’m one of the lucky ones. I received an accurate diagnosis and access to life saving therapy because of that diagnosis, and the research supported by the VF on new, better treatments.
My granulomatosis with polyangiitis(GPA) is a chronic, life and organ threatening autoimmune disorder with no cure. As such, I am honored and privileged to advocate for myself, patients, and families like mine who are stricken by this and the other forms of Vasculitis. As an advocate I support and participate in research through the Vasculitis Patient Powered Research Network, of which I serve as Co-Principal Investigator.
With this campaign, I’m trying to raise both money and awareness. The money supports the Vasculitis Foundation in its mission of patient support, awareness, and research. To learn more, please visit www.vasculitisfoundation.org. I understand there are multiple competing asks this time of year, so please give what you can. With each additional donation, in addition to supporting the mission financially, we’ve raised awareness with an additional person. Thank you for your consideration.
