Public Needs to be “Spoon Fed” About the Needs of People With Invisible Disabilities

Long Island, NY, October 30, 2005 --(PR.com)-- Christine Miserandino of ButYouDontLookSick.com is scheduled to appear on Keeping Kids Healthy, a nation wide syndicated television show airing on channel Thirteen / WNET New York, on November 4th and 5th in the tri-state area.

Although she was in and out of doctors’ offices and hospitals since the age of fifteen, it was only a few years ago in which doctors determined that Christine had the chronic inflammatory disease know as Lupus.

The laundry list of symptoms was familiar to Christine. A phrase which friends and doctors coined, “But You Don’t Look Sick?”; inspired Christine to create a website www.butyoudontlooksick.com, to inform the general public with more information about the disease which plagues over 16,000 Americans each and every year.

It was on this website that Christine published her “Spoon Theory,” a story that attempts to describe living life with a chronic illness. While eating dinner one day with a friend Christine was asked what it felt like to be sick. She grabbed a spoon gave it to her friend; “I wanted something for her to actually hold. If I was in control of taking away the spoons, then she would know what it feels like to have someone or something else, in this case Lupus, being in control.” It was this theory which grabbed the attention of producers at Keeping Kids Healthy, asking if she would like to appear on their show.

Keeping Kids Healthy, a television show is innovating children’s health television, is in its fourth national season of syndication. Its multiple Emmy award winning public broadcasts aired to over in over 60% of United States households.

Christine Miserandino is very active in Long Island’s Lupus community, participating in events such as the, “Lupus Walk” each and every year in association with the Lupus Alliance. This year alone Long Island’s chapter raised more than $200,000 to aid in benefiting those with the disease.

Butyoudontlooksick.com, a website that began as a hobby has become one of the internets fastest growing health related sites, and also serves as a support system for thousands of people across the world living with Lupus and other “invisible diseases.” Lupus is incurable and the symptoms are varied and impact most daily activities, but through proper self-care and an early diagnosis, day-to-day living can be as normal as one can get while living with a chronic disease.

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