Back in October last year we were approached by Rare Voices Australia to be interviewed for The Advertiser here in Adelaide. Journalist Elisa Black came to our home and spoke to Tayla and myself about what is it like to be diagnosed and live with a rare disease. Tayla spoke candidly about what the last two years have been like, and gave the journalist an insight into life with a rare disease and rare genetic disorder. Statistics are approximately 1 in 1 million of the general population worldwide.
We have been told alone in Australia only a few children have been diagnosed with the same tumour and genetic disorder…I wish we had some more accurate statistics! Following our interview a photographer also from The Advertiser visited us a few days later and took some photos to run with the story.
Finally on Saturday (25th January) in SA Weekend we and three other families had a chance to tell the general public about life and living with a rare disease. Let’s hope that the researchers, the health system, the public and the politicians can understand how under resourced and under funded rare diseases are.
We need to be better advocates for ourselves and educate and create awareness about these particular diseases, or else we face the very real consequence where our children as well as adults will die without life-saving treatment.
“Rare Voices Australia was formed in early 2012 as Australia’s National Rare Disease Alliance to promote health policy and a healthcare system that works for those with rare diseases. It is pushing for a National Rare Disease Plan, to provide clear national guidance on rare disease management and research, a coordinated response that can be delivered within existing resources, while helping promote research and diagnosis, treatment and care”.
“There are more than 7000 rare diseases and many have no formal title and are difficult to diagnose. People living with rare diseases can go years searching for an explanation for their symptoms. They begin to feel like hypochondriacs, that it is all in their head.”
Our story features below:
On the 21st and 22nd February in support of One In A Million – Australia’s Rare Disease Alliance www.gothetorrens.com.au will officially launch in Adelaide. Walk, jog or sprint the River Torrens Running Loop (4.2 km) in support of three charities FARA The Unicorn Foundation and Captain Courageous Foundation.
Triple M will broadcast the event in the morning and ambassadors Richard Douglas from the Adelaide Crows and Angus Monfries from Port Power will be attending.
http://www.weekendnotes.com/go-the-torrens-sprint-jog-or-walk-fundraiser/
Rare Disease Day is 28th February and more on the events going on around the country can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/RareDiseaseDayAustralia?fref=ts
Rare Voices Australia
The Unicorn Foundation
http://www.unicornfoundation.org.au
lovehopeandcourage 