Most importantly, if you believe you may be suffering from Dercum’s Disease, the best thing you can do is make an appointment to visit with your doctor and help to educate them on the disease. Taking care of your own health and well-being has to be your number one priority! You can’t be an effective advocate if you neglect your health.
Talk! Open your mouth. Type. Email. Tweet. Facebook. Instagram. Talk to your family and friends. Talk to your doctors, talk to your nurses, talk to your medical providers. Be an open book. Talk to everyone who will listen! Share your story. Share medical journal articles. Be as knowledgable as possible about the details, science, and research. Share all of it.
Each person you can educate about Dercum’s Disease increases the odds that someone who is out there suffering right now might finally find precious answers. Right now you can help make that happen. It won’t cost a dime, but the results are absolutely priceless.
If you are with the media, anything you could to help educate the public about this disease and promote further education and evaluation, your help would be greatly appreciated. You can contact the Dercum Society’s founder, Heather Lawver, for additional information and materials. We would be happy to assist you in any way that we can. To contact us, click here.
The only current proper, ethical, double blind clinical research we’re aware of into Dercum’s Disease is being performed from time to time at The National Institutes of Health. They are a world renowned, highly respected medical research institution and would be very well deserving of your donations, if you are so inclined. Not only do they provide some of the best medical research in the world, they also support PubMed, the international database of peer-reviewed medical journal articles.
There are many ways you can donate! NIH is always looking for blood and platelet donors through the NIH Blood Bank. You can contribute financially through the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. If you are able to donate, we can’t think of any organization more deserving.
Naturally, several large medical universities all across the globe also occasionally undertake new research initiatives and may begin new programs. We are more than happy to help and support them in any way that we can.
We Don’t Accept Donations
The Dercum Society is funded entirely by our founder, purely for the purpose of providing scientifically-based information for patients, doctors, caregivers, family, and the public. We aren’t asking for money, but we would like to ask for your support in spreading awareness.