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ITP September Awareness Week 2024 CAMPAIGN
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by
mervyn
ITP SEPTEMBER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
The 2024 Global ITP September Awareness Campaign is suddenly upon us again, running this year from September 23rd to the 29th
Here’s why it is so important and why we should try to get involved.
WHY IS ITP SEPTEMBER AWARENESS IMPORTANT ?
One of the many things that I have taken from my 18 year ITP journey is that we need to make more people aware of this rare illness. Like most ITP sufferers, before I was diagnosed I had never heard of it.
After my diagnosis, I couldn’t believe I had anything as serious as ITP. I thought the hospital had made a mistake. Possibly they had confused my blood test results with somebody else !
I frequently asked myself – Why me, how can I have ITP ? I have never been ill before, never smoked, never taken any drugs and always drank alcohol in moderation.
Well, sadly ITP does not care who it chooses and when. It can develop in anyone at anytime at any age and of any ethnicity, although it occurs more in women than men. In short, ITP is not terribly fussy, we are all fair game.
In adults it is usually more stubborn than in children. It tends to disappear (often without treatment) in many children, as suddenly as it turns up. In adults it is rarer to see it go into spontaneous remission. But we can still manage it and have very full and positive lives.
SPREADING AWARENESS GETS RESULTS
There are plenty of grounds for optimism and it is clear that our ITP Awareness campaigns have borne fruit. When the annual September campaign started back in 2010 things on the purple front were very different.
Looking back to 2006 and my diagnosis there were far fewer treatments available for ITP (For example – TPO drugs had not been rolled out) few support groups, and limited numbers of blogs, social media groups, vlogs, let alone research on the scale we have now.
Until the TPO drugs were introduced the only treatments being used were not designed to treat ITP at all. The options were borrowed from other illnesses/conditions. Now we have the TPO drugs specifically developed for the treatment of our condition.
So things have improved dramatically and as evidence of this I would urge anyone impacted by ITP to watch the many video films on the ITP Support Association You Tube Channel which explain the many treatments now available.
Also on the channel are the presentations made at the Annual Convention from May 2024 so you can view the most up to date developments in ITP from some of the leading Global experts.
The whole approach to ITP is so much more positive, more patient focused and inclusive. It is far more optimistic and encouraging.
Making an effort to spread awareness has undoubtedly played a big part in moving research, treatments & knowledge further forward.
There is no better reason to get involved this September than knowing any contribution we make is improving things for us living with ITP now, and helping those who may follow us in the years ahead.
We cannot be complacent, it is up to us to keep making others aware of our condition. We know what it is like to live with it and we can inform others what to expect. If we don’t educate people, then who will ?
So please join in the September Awareness campaign, try to get involved even if it is to take just one or two small actions.
ITP September Awareness week runs from September 23rd to the 29th
USEFUL LINKS –
GLOBAL ITP AWARENESS WEEK –
ITP SUPPORT ASSOCIATION – YOU TUBE CHANNEL –
https://www.youtube.com/@ITPSAUK/videos
PLATELET DISORDER SUPPORT ASSOCIATION –
https://www.pdsa.org/patients-caregivers/itp-awareness-advocacy/itp-awareness-month.html
ITP AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND –
https://itpaustralia.org.au/itpevent/itp-awareness-week-2024/
