In the month of August we are
going to be targeting the 4 major networks' news departments.
We are starting with ABC news which includes shows like Nightline,
20/20, ABC World News, Good Morning America, and more.
You can visit the
website at:
http://abcnews.go.com/?lid=ABCCOMMenu&lpos=ABCNews
We have written the following
email to the show to ask them to do a stories about Lupus. We encourage all of you to write to them as well.
You can tell them your story, give them Lupus information and stats
and encourage them to cover this important topic. We also
encourage you to write your local ABC station this week as well.
Find their website by typing your city name and ABC in a search
engine.
Here is the ABC news contact
page:
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3052660 (There is a 2000
character max)
Dear ABC news:
I am writing to you today
to ask you to do more stories about a disease that is killing and disabling thousands of
Americans every year. Millions suffer from this disease, while the FDA
has not approved a new treatment in over 4 decades. That
disease is Lupus and it desperately needs the awareness your shows can give!
Lupus affects an estimated 1.5
million Americans, 90% of them are women. Lupus also affects
African Americans 3 times more than Caucasians. For such a common
and potentially deadly disease it is
dreadfully under publicized, misunderstood and lets just be honest,
ignored. This disease is often disabling and almost always
life altering for not only the patient, but also for their families.
It has been over 40 years since the FDA has approved a new treatment for
Lupus. That is inexcusable when the current treatments can be
just as debilitating as the disease itself.
Almost everybody has heard of
Lupus and even knows somebody who has it, but few actually know what
it is. October is National Lupus
Awareness Month and is just one example of a great time to include
stories
about this disease. There are so many angles this story can be
told from! Stories are needed about the impact it can have on
relationships, finances, the difficulties of dealing w/ chronic pain
and illness, the difficulties we have with Social Security,
celebrities with Lupus, poor health care due to uneducated doctors
or financial burdens and so much more!
We hope you will consider
shedding some light on this disease! We will be asking our support network
of Lupus patients and their families to let you know how much this
story needs to be told as well. You can read my personal story
at:
http://cure4lupus.org/kendras_story.htm If you want to read more about Lupus
you can visit our website at http://Cure4Lupus.org, The Lupus Foundation of
America's website at Lupus.org or the Alliance for Lupus Research's
website at LupusResearch.org.
Kendra
Isola
Webmaster@Cure4Lupus.org
