patient story Archives - Inspire Corporate

Motivating change through online patient sharing
Patient stories

Motivating change through online patient sharing

Motivating change through online patient sharing By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH Humans evolved as storytellers. Experiences of the weather, nature, life, and the world have been explained through legends and myths. Sharing stories continues to build and maintain community. As Marie Ennis O’Connor, Irish breast cancer survivor, blogger and marketing consultant states, patients’ stories are authentic and genuine “windows into the lived experience,”1 or as linguists would argue, their stories are rich sources of “real world evidence.” Breast cancer patients have been sharing their stories online for many years now. On July 4, 2011, the #BCSM (for [...]

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Hepatitis C Virus Liver Disease

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Hepatitis C Virus Liver Disease October is Liver Awareness Month. Today, Inspire is sharing information about the Hepatitis C virus and its impact on the liver. Roughly 3 to 4 million people in the US have the hepatitis C virus (HCV).1 Yet progression and outcomes vary. Of 100 people who are infected by HCV, between 15 and 25 will be cured of the disease by their own immune systems. Unfortunately, between 75 and 85 people will develop a chronic infection. Scar tissue in the liver, called cirrhosis or stage IV liver fibrosis [...]

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Systemic Scleroderma

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Systemic Scleroderma Approximately 300,000 people in the US live with scleroderma; about 100,000 of those people live with a form called systemic scleroderma.1 Scleroderma is a connective tissue disorder involving the fibrous protein called collagen that is found in structures like cartilage, ligaments and tendons, throughout the body. People with scleroderma make too much collagen and it builds up in tissues. Often one of the first symptoms of scleroderma is hardening of the skin. The cause of scleroderma is unknown and there is no cure. It can occur as a localized [...]