Tuesday, December 1st, begins Inflammatory Bowel Disease Awareness Week. Nearly 5 million people worldwide have Crohn’s Disease, ulcerative colitis or Indeterminate Colitis. Many of those people are in the hospital. Some of them are waiting for surgery. Others are recovering from surgery. Many of them are fighting with their insurance companies to get their medicines that cost thousands of dollars covered. Others are laying in bed or on the bathroom floor crying in pain and unable to eat anything or sleep at night. This is the sad reality of IBD and it shouldn’t be this way. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can raise awareness. We can show others what IBD is like. This is my second time to participate since learning about Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week and I am stoked.
Tell the world that you have an army of IBD ninjas behind you!
I have created a number of graphics in preparation. The first four (see below) I created for you to use (if you so desire) as your profile pictures. They include the hashtag that the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) have come up with, #IBDaware.
Spread the word!
I will also be Tweeting/Posting various graphics on my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages (as well as a few of my other social media platforms). These graphics were created to visually show people what we look like on the outside, plus a few things they won’t see just by looking at us. These graphics are meant to be shared, liked, retweeted, etc. to help spread the word about what IBD is and how it affects us in our day-to-day lives. Here’s an example of one of those graphics:
CCFA Events
The CCFA has several exciting events that you can participate in during awareness week. On Wednesday from 8-9 EST they have a Facebook chat with Megan Starshak from the Great Bowel Movement. Saturday they have Gaming4Guts and Spin4 Crohn’s & Colitis. This and so much more is taking place so be sure to follow the CCFA on their various social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
FLASH MOB!!!
Another way for you to get involved is to sign up to help the CCFA conduct a social media flash mob via Thunderclap. I’ve already scheduled my posts and I encourage you to do the same. You have until December 1st to schedule your posts via Thunderclap. To do so, click here. Let’s show people what IBD ninjas are made of!
#BeyondTheBathroom
The Intense Intestines Foundation (find them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) is working their campaign again this year featuring symptoms that are not bathroom related. Head on over to any of their social media pages to find more details on how you can participate. Here’s my entry:
#IBDninja PRIZE PACK
During IBD awareness week, I will also be giving away an #IBDninja Prize Pack to ONE lucky winner. To learn more about how you can win, click here!
There are so many things going on next week. Too many to count, but I have a feeling that by working together, we will take social media by storm. Let’s do this.
