DEAR THYROID^TM

We all want to make a difference, to improve thyroid care, support our fellow thyroid patients and reinvent ourselves. As a literary thyroid support brand, we offer a lot of wonderful opportunities to make a difference RIGHT NOW. While writing to your thyroid might sound like an odd thing to do, from what the majority of our community has said, it’s quite cathartic. Additionally, we have a lot of fabulous literary things that are designed to write about imagery and awareness.

Here’s a list of all the things that YOU can do to MAKE A DIFFERENCE; support awareness for thyroid diseases and cancers and each other.

Become a Dear ThyMentor: Spearheaded and created by Kerri Schwartz. If you’ve had thyroid disease or thyroid cancer for quite a while, you understand the inner-workings of this disease from your perspective. Moreover, you know how to research your disease and find answers. A Dear ThyMentor doesn’t give advice. Rather, we mentor a newly diagnosed patient by lending support, sharing our experience of our disease and pointing a newbie in the right direction, to get advice from trusted, vetted resources. We’re an ear to bend, a shoulder to cry on and proof that better days are ahead, EVEN IF WE’RE STILL STRUGGLING. For newly diagnosed patients, do you want to be mentored by someone who has had your disease for a long period of time, so you can ask a million questions and have your own support/resources/knowledge buddy? If you want to do either or, please contact us.

Win The Thyroid Queen Painting: HD has donated one of his original water color drawings; it’s so beautiful. To win, we’re asking our thylicious community to write about the visual imagery of their disease as they envision it. Remember, it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. We are still taking submissions. We’ve extended the contest for another week! We have 9 spaces left. Mail submissions to submissions@dearthyroid.org.

Thyroid Mad Libs Contest: This is such a fun contest! If you click this URL, you’ll see the ‘blanks you need to fill in’ to complete the Dear Thyroid Letter. Once you enter your Thyroid Mad Lib, send it to as many friends and family members or fellow patients, to fill in the blanks, too. Each submission should have “Team (your name) in the subject line”. The team with the most submissions each wins a $25 iTunes Gift Card. Send submissions to submissions@dearthyroid.org.

Write and submit a Dear Thyroid Letter: in your own words, to your disease or cancer, thyroidectomy, goiter, doctor, medication or anything else you wish to write, even if it’s to another gland or body part. Connect with your disease, confront it head on and say everything you want to. Whether you do it anonymously or not, just DO IT. Submit to submissions@dearthyroid.org.

Attend a Monthly Dear Thyroid Meet-Up In Your City: In a public venue, such as a coffee shop or a restaurant, Dear Thyroid patients are coming together one day each month for offline support. We’ve been doing local meet-ups for a long time. Thanks to Kerri Schwartz, she’s put together a monthly support group program, so that every single month, we can meet-up in the cities we live in. Please contact Kerri with your email address and location, so she can connect you with other thyroid patients. Once we have a location and time scheduled, We’ll add your city to the Dear Thyroid Calendar and create an Event on Facebook, so that other patients can participate, too.

Healing Arts: Are you an artist who happens to have thyroid disease or thyroid cancer or another type of autoimmune condition? If so, we want to list you as a resource with a blurb about your art and a link to your store. Additionally, we are requesting a donation of your art for a literary contest, and so that we can introduce you to the community and learn about how your art has played a role in your healing process.

September is THYROID CANCER AWARENESS MONTH: Get involved, get everyone you know involved. Dear Thyroid is doing two very important things and we need your help – your entries and your willingness to ask as many thyroid cancer patients and survivors as possible to participate, please. Let’s show the world the facts; THERE ARE A LOT OF US; we are not a disease that is undeserving of funding for research, education and a cure. Fight for awareness! Participate in “Taking Sexy Out Of The Thyloset: Dear Thyroid Blog Tour”. Whether you’re a thyroid cancer patient or a survivor, YOU ARE STILL A SURVIVOR. Please participate in the Survivorship Roll Call. Please email Joanna@dearthyroid.org for submissions and questions.

SEE ALL THE FABULOUS THINGS YOU CAN DO TO DAY TO GET INVOLVED IN SUPPORTING AWARENESS?! PRETTY AWESOME, RIGHT? Go forth, my fellow thyroidians and make a splash – a difference – and let the world know that YOUR STORY MATTERS and that we deserve the same attention and awareness that other diseases are getting. Our disease IS sexy. Sexy enough to fund, in every way.

Tags: ask your family and friends to support awareness for thyroid diseases and thyroid cancers, become a Dear Thymentor, enter the thyroid mad libs contest, get involved in thyroid cancer awareness, get involved in thyroid disease awareness, mentor a newly diagnosed patient, newly diagnosed patients get mentored by someone who has had your disease for a long period of time, participate in the Taking Sexy out of the thyloset Blog tour hosted by Dear Thyroid, share awareness with friends, Sign up for the thyroid cancer survivorship roll call, spread awareness for thyroid cancer awareness month in September, support for thyroid awareness, win the thyroid queen painting literary contest, write and submit your very own Dear Thyroid letter

Follow Dear Thyroid on Twitter/@DearThyroid | See our Facebook Page | Become a Fan on Facebook | Join our Facebook Group

You Can Create a Dear Thyroid Profile and share with friends!