FIGHT LIKE A WARRIOR September 2021 Newsletter |
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Our Fight Like A Warrior team has grown! Please join us in welcoming the newest addition to our FLAW family, Meg! She will be taking over as our new Newsletter Coordinator and we are so excited to see all of her wonderful ideas come to life! With her experience in journalism, writing, researching and organizing, we know she is the perfect fit for our team and will transform the newsletter into something amazing! |
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The Cards for Warriors program is coming back! Do you enjoy brightening a strangers day? Do you enjoy helping others feel cared for? Want a chance to show off your creative side or your writing talents? The Cards for Warriors program is looking for new volunteers to help make cards for those who are battling chronic conditions and need a dose of encouragement. We are asking for a five cards a month commitment and send them to warriors around the world! Creativity is welcomed and encouraged in the card-making process-- drawings, quotes, encouraging words, etc! If you are interested, please email Kymberly at kymberly.franco@fightlikeawarrior.org to learn more! |
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It's not all just in our heads! Medical gaslighting is a term used to describe doctors or medical practitioners who blame a patient's illness or symptoms on psychological factors, or deny a patient's illness entirely. For example wrongly telling patients that they are not sick. This can manipulate the patient into thinking they are exaggerating their own symptoms or imagining them all together. Nearly everyone who has a chronic condition has probably experienced this before on some level. If you feel as if you are not being heard or a healthcare professional tells you “it’s just all in your head”, we urge you to find another opinion. Because chances are, if you are living with a chronic condition, it really isn’t just all in your head. You know your body better than anyone else; you know when something isn’t right!
No one should ever have to be anxious about going to a doctor due to the fear of not being believed. We encourage you to properly advocate for yourself and the symptoms you experience! |
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New Blog Post Alert! Do you or a loved one happen to take medications such as Remicade, Humaira, or Azathiprine? For those on biologics and immunosuppressive therapies, taking precaution against the sun is critical. According to Rheumatology Advisor and a study from Pharmacy Times, TNF-blocking medications can increase the risk of skin cancer. But, there are several ways you can help give your skin the protection it needs! | | |
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Happy World Narcolepsy Day! Did you know that 1 in 2,000 people or about 3 million people around the world live with Narcolepsy? That means you probably know someone with narcolepsy, like our Director of Communications, Cienna (@Chronicallypersevering)!
Narcolepsy isn’t just sleepiness! Narcolepsy symptoms can include interrupted nighttime sleep, brainfog, hallucinations, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and more!
Sleepiness doesn’t always look like being tired and can come out like irritability, trouble concentrating, moodiness, brain fog, and memory problems.
There is a lot of stigma associated with narcolepsy due to incorrect portrayal in media and television, but raising awareness can help us stop this stigma in its tracks! | | |
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One Saturday of each month, we will be going live on Instagram to bring you a virtual cook-along of a delicious meal meant for spoonies. These quick and easy meals can be altered to meet specific dietary restrictions and will be perfect for making on those days where you're low on spoons but don't want to sacrifice tastiness! We will be posting the recipe, accessibility requirements, and possible substitutions you might use for the meal each month in our newsletter. That way you have time to get your ingredients so you can cook right along with us if you would like to! These videos will be saved on our social media pages if you weren't able to come to the Instagram live or if you want to cook the meal again! We encourage you to submit your own “spoonie meal” recipes that you love to kelsey.calimer@fightlikeawarrior.org to help us build up this excellent resource for all others living with a chronic illness or disability and for the chance for us to make it in our cook-along! These can be recipes you have created yourself or ones you have found elsewhere and have grown to love! This month's Spoonie Meal Saturday will take place on:
OCTOBER 9th @ 7:00pm EST/4:00pm PST
We will be making: Spaghetti Squash Mac n' Cheese (serves 8) The Ingredients you will need are:
2 small/medium spaghetti squash about 2 lbs each 1 TBS olive oil ½ tsp garlic salt (or to taste) ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to taste) Cheese Sauce: 2 TBS butter 2 TBS all-purpose flour* (or gluten-free all-purpose flour, tapioca flour or cornstarch) ½ tsp sea salt ¼ tsp garlic powder 1 ½ cups whole milk 2 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese divided Accessible prep:
You will want to roast your squash for 40-60 minutes at 400 degrees if you wish to cook along with us. If you have a harder time with large knives and hand dexterity, you can purchase pre-cut squash, pre-shredded cheese and use pre-ground pepper. |
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It's Interview Time! This month we sat down with Mary-Kate Wells, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Pre-employment Transitions Services Coordinator for The Boston Center for Independent Living. We had an informative interview to discuss 504 Plans, IEPs and accommodations for public school and college/university students living with a chronic illness or disability. | | |
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Blog Post Featuring:You! Have you ever wanted to be featured in a Fight Like A Warrior blog post? Maybe you were a little too deep in the fight or had too much on your plate at the time. Well, now is your chance! We are having an open call to have your story featured in Fight Like A Warrior's blog! Do you need a little help getting your story to come together? Maybe all you have is an idea, well that's all you need! Our very own incredible blog manager, Shannan would love to bring your blog ideas and dreams to life! Email: shannan.oharalevi@fightlikeawarrior.org or click the link below to share your story! | | |
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Turn on AmazonSmile in the Amazon app to generate donations! Looking for a FREE & EASY way to support our mission to unite, empower, & advocate for those battling chronic illnesses? When you shop using AmazonSmile & select Fight Like A Warrior as your charity of choice, Amazon donates a portion of your total to our organization with no cost to you! |
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