Public Need to Be “Spoon Fed” About the Needs of People With Invisible Disabilities

Long Island, NY, – Christine Miserandino of
ButYouDontLookSick.com is scheduled to appear on Keeping Kids Healthy, a
nation wide syndicated television show airing on channel Thirteen / WNET New
York, on November 4th and 5th in the tri-state area.

Although she was in and out of doctors’ offices and hospitals since the age
of fifteen, it was only a few years ago in which doctors determined that
Christine had the chronic inflammatory disease know as Lupus.

The laundry list of symptoms was familiar to Christine. A phrase which
friends and doctors coined, “But You Don’t Look Sick?”; inspired Christine
to create a website www.butyoudontlooksick.com, to inform the general public
with more information about the disease which plagues over 16,000 Americans
each and every year.

It was on this website that Christine published her “Spoon Theory,” a story
that attempts to describe living life with a chronic illness. While eating
dinner one day with a friend Christine was asked what it felt like to be
sick. She grabbed a spoon gave it to her friend; “I wanted something for
her to actually hold. If I was in control of taking away the spoons, then
she would know what it feels like to have someone or something else, in this
case Lupus, being in control.” It was this theory which grabbed the
attention of producers at Keeping Kids Healthy, asking if she would like to
appear on their show.

Keeping Kids Healthy, a television show is innovating children’s health
television, is in its fourth national season of syndication. Its multiple
Emmy award winning public broadcasts aired to over in over 60% of United
States households.

Christine Miserandino is very active in Long Island’s Lupus community,
participating in events such as the, “Lupus Walk” each and every year in
association with the Lupus Alliance. This year alone Long Island’s chapter
raised more than $200,000 to aid in benefiting those with the disease.

Butyoudontlooksick.com, a website that began as a hobby has become one of
the internets fastest growing health related sites, and also serves as a
support system for thousands of people across the world living with Lupus
and other “invisible diseases.” Lupus is incurable and the symptoms are
varied and impact most daily activities, but through proper self-care and an
early diagnosis, day-to-day living can be as normal as one can get while
living with a chronic disease.



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