Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
Health & Fitness

A Hard Disease with a Harder Name

Darpan News Desk, 10 Jun, 2016 11:17 AM
  • A Hard Disease with a Harder Name
The word itself is like a tongue twister. It is hard to say. But scleroderma is an even harder disease, a rare disorder that sees its patients fighting not only the devastating effects of their skin hardening, but also a stigma that comes with a general lack of awareness of scleroderma and its symptoms. It affects thousands of people, but millions don’t know anything about it.
 
“With no known cause or cure, scleroderma is a disease that doesn’t discriminate,” says Maureen Sauvé, a scleroderma patient and past president of the Scleroderma Society of Canada. “It can strike at men and women, young and old, any ethnicity. But we shouldn’t have to suffer alone. We are not our disease.”
 
Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to produce too much collagen, which in turn causes patches of skin to harden. Symptoms are both visible and invisible, attacking any organ in the body, and they make every day life extremely difficult.
 
As a rare disease, research into better therapies — and, ultimately, a cure — is vital. But resources are thin. Over the course of the month of June, Scleroderma Awareness Month, several communities across Canada are hosting fundraising and awareness events to raise money for research and educate about scleroderma and its devastating effects.
 
“The science is getting better and our understanding of scleroderma is improving,” says Maureen. “But we still have a long way to go. We are better treating the symptoms, and our capacity to support people living with the disease is rapidly improving. We can continue this progress by building awareness and support.”
 
Find the scleroderma event closest to your community by visiting the events page at scleroderma.ca. More resources are also available at hardword.org.

MORE Health & Fitness ARTICLES

Multiple Sclerosis: Canada’s Invisible Disease

Multiple Sclerosis: Canada’s Invisible Disease
Four months after completing the Vancouver Marathon, Linda McGowan, a Vancouver nurse and mother of two, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1983. She was barely 35 at the time. 

Multiple Sclerosis: Canada’s Invisible Disease

Living and Breathing With Asthma

Living and Breathing With Asthma
Asthma is a long-term lung disease marked by breathing difficulties that occur when airways become inflamed and subsequently narrowed or blocked.

Living and Breathing With Asthma

A Playground Workout For Your Inner Child

A Playground Workout For Your Inner Child

Breathe some fresh air into your fitness routine that’s not only free but fun as well &...

A Playground Workout For Your Inner Child

May is National Sunshine Month

May is National Sunshine Month
Research shows increases in sun exposure correlates with positive health outcomes

May is National Sunshine Month

Diabetes is leading cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations

Diabetes is leading cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations
Time to act to save limbs and improve lives.

Diabetes is leading cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations

New study shows higher levels of vitamin D can lower risk of cancer

Published in the journal PLOS ONE and authored by a team from Creighton University, University of California, San Diego and GrassrootsHealth, the research found a 67% reduction in risk for all cancers in women with vitamin D levels > 100 nmol/L (40 ng/ml) compared to womenwith vitamin D levels < 50 nmol/L (20 ng/ml). 

New study shows higher levels of vitamin D can lower risk of cancer

PrevNext