Sometime ago I read a BusinessWeek article that talked about how people with some chronic illnesses were using a social networking site to connect (BW 12/4/2008, Health 2.0). Basically they shared all their personal and medical information with each other and are able to compare experiences, diagnoses, treatments, etc. In a specific case talked about in the BusinessWeek, one person spear-headed a low-level clinical trial of a treatment that no doctor, hospital or drug company were interested in pursuing.
Why am I blogging about this? This August will be 7 years since I lost my mother to breast cancer, and aside from the various monetary contributions I make, I signed on to The Love/Avon Army of Women site http://www.armyofwomen.org/. It is a partnership between Dr. Susan Love and Avon. While not quite the same as a social networking site, it does use the power of the internet to reach out to as many women as possible who would be willing to support the ongoing search for the cure. It is a simple process to sign up and is very unobtrusive. They send you emails from time to time asking you to participate in various studies. It may be completing a questionnaire or something more. So far I've received two such notices but did not meet the profile for either study. At this time, they are accepting women in the US only. They are looking for a range of participants whether or not you or a family member has had cancer.
I am a little disappointed that there are only about 265,000 women signed up to date...(I know, I know, since when did 265,000 get preceded by only?), but if you haven't already signed up for this, please do take the time to do so now. The goal is to get 1 million women on board with this to provide a rich population for the researchers. You can learn more from their FAQs.
I will end by quoting from their FAQs since I'm already on that page, "This is YOUR chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer."
Why am I blogging about this? This August will be 7 years since I lost my mother to breast cancer, and aside from the various monetary contributions I make, I signed on to The Love/Avon Army of Women site http://www.armyofwomen.org/. It is a partnership between Dr. Susan Love and Avon. While not quite the same as a social networking site, it does use the power of the internet to reach out to as many women as possible who would be willing to support the ongoing search for the cure. It is a simple process to sign up and is very unobtrusive. They send you emails from time to time asking you to participate in various studies. It may be completing a questionnaire or something more. So far I've received two such notices but did not meet the profile for either study. At this time, they are accepting women in the US only. They are looking for a range of participants whether or not you or a family member has had cancer.
I am a little disappointed that there are only about 265,000 women signed up to date...(I know, I know, since when did 265,000 get preceded by only?), but if you haven't already signed up for this, please do take the time to do so now. The goal is to get 1 million women on board with this to provide a rich population for the researchers. You can learn more from their FAQs.
I will end by quoting from their FAQs since I'm already on that page, "This is YOUR chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer."
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