It’s Invisible Illness Awareness Week!

Dearest heart sisters,

If you live with an invisible illness (as almost all heart patients do), this is your week, no matter what your diagnosis.  I encourage you to visit the Invisible Illness Week site, all about those of us living with serious health conditions that nobody else can see. It’s an annual educational campaign about how often illness is utterly invisible to others, how to be sensitive to those living with these challenges, and how to learn from their unique experiences.

At some point during this week, I hope you will complete this interesting project called “30 Things You May Not Know About My Invisible Illness“.  You can share your finished 30 Things essay with others (or not) but either way, it’s an interesting and self-reflective exercise. Here’s what I wrote a year ago about my own invisible illness. 

On the Invisible Illness site, you’ll find personal essays that help to answer questions like:

• Why is it when you tell someone who is ill that they look good, they are offended?
• What practical ways can you encourage someone who is ill?
• What is it like to have a child living with a chronic illness?
• What happens when people with an invisible illness use their handicapped parking permit?
• How can you can support a friend who’s been newly diagnosed with an invisible chronic illness?
• What’s the difference between a visible and invisible illness when it comes to one’s career?
• What’s it like to go to college with an invisible chronic illness?
• What’s it like to be ill when you have a new baby? A tween? A teen?

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See also:

• 30 little things about my invisible illness you may not know
• ‘Healthy Privilege’ – when you just can’t imagine being sick
• “But you don’t look sick…”
• When we don’t look as sick as we feel
• “You look great!” – and other things you should never say to heart patients
• Looking good for your doctor’s appointment: oui ou non?
• “Smile, Though Your Heart is Aching”: is fake smiling unhealthy?

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