Mary Pettigrew is a freelance writer/blogger from Dallas, Texas.  Her writing is multigenre in nature, with a focus on poetry, prose, essay, narrative interview.  She is an ambassador & patient advocate for multiple sclerosis (MS), chronic illness, IBS/D, mental illness & disability rights.  In 2014, Mary founded MSpals, an online support organization which has a global outreach on Twitter, Facebook & other platforms.  In conjunction with MSpals, Mary created a group geared specifically for those with chronic illness & disabilities to post/share art, music, writing, etc.  The group is called “Creative Expression” & can be found on Facebook. 

Mary is active with the NMSS (National MS Society), HealtheVoices, WEGO Health and other patient leader/ambassador platforms. 

Anna is a Life Coach. Her mission is to live life in the present and enjoy life to the absolute fullest while connecting and helping others to do the same on this journey called life. She is a mother of three, retired from a career in the Software Industry. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2009, now living with Secondary Progressive MS. She’s an inspiring disability and chronic illness advocate. She loves connecting with others and influencing or motivating them in any way to be a more empowered version of themselves despite circumstances or perceived limitations. She’s a very passionate and enthusiastic person driven by a lifestyle centered on spirituality, health, and fitness. She enjoys cooking and follows a Paleo and Keto eating regime. She also enjoys blogging on spiritual, emotional, and physical wellness. 

https://www.instagram.com/immakeepstandin/
https://linktr.ee/AnnaGiannakouros

In 2003, after suffering with symptoms since the early 1990’s, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. As a high school teacher, I educated my school community and raised awareness so much that my MS Walk team consisted of upwards of 400 walkers. In 2011 I learned that I had broken at least 1 vertebra (line due to a fall thanks to MS) and underwent spinal fusion and decompression surgery, and continued to educate my community. Sadly, I became unable to perform
My job anymore and became disability retired in 2014. As I struggled to regain my strength and walk again, I found my way to meditation as a coping mechanism for the extreme sadness I felt, and the depression that was all encompassing. As I began to regain some strength I also incorporated light yoga to keep my body moving and my brain mindful. At the end of 2016 (12/30 to be exact), I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Just like everything else in my life I put a smile on my face and did what I had to, and today I am more than 4 years cancer free. During it all I leaned on yoga and meditation because they are the best non-medicinal tools I know. I even became a yoga teacher so that I could share the benefits of the practice with others because I know first-hand how well it works. Just when I thought I had been given all that I could handle, I was then diagnosed with diabetes in 2018. While I certainly have had my share of obstacles, never once have I asked “why me?”. What I always say is “why not me?”, because I am no better or worse than anyone else and I clearly am swimming in a very shallow gene pool. One thing that has been constant for me is helping others, whether it has been advocating at doctor appointments, helping navigate the difficult waters to SSDI, teaching free yoga classes, or simply talking on the phone with those who need help. From where I stand, despite it all, life is incredibly sweet and I am grateful for every single day.

Allison Rosen, is a Houston, Texas native, and colorectal cancer survivor. She dedicates her life to use her voice and platform to educate, advocate, and continuously learn how best to represent the collective adolescent and young adult community and the colorectal cancer community. Allison is a Project Director at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, focusing on colorectal prevention. She has a combined 15 years of experience in the oncology space, focusing on designing, implementing, and evaluating public health programs and initiatives, to address cancer awareness and disparities among the medically underserved. She serves as a patient, research and policy advocate working with Fight Colorectal Cancer, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network, Colorectal Cancer Alliance, Colon Cancer Coalition, SWOG Cancer Research Network, and volunteers and serves on numerous committees at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Through her own experience at beating Stage 2 colorectal cancer, she works to bridge the gap between the healthcare system and the communities that it serves. Allison loves to travel, nature, music, dancing, and will never say no to an adventure.

Ella Balasa is a patient advocate and a person living with cystic fibrosis. Having a biology background, she is an advocate for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections. She has spoken publicly about this issue as well as relaying the value of patient voice in research – most recently at the FDA and healthcare conferences. She believes in the importance of engaging patients to be active participants in healthcare by empowering and educating them to collaborate with stakeholders to improve disease outcomes. She has become a professional patient voice in research contributing to clinical trial development, research prioritization, developing patient engagement initiatives. Ella is also involved in the CF community through being a director of the US Adult CF Association and through her passion for writing. She writes about her research and healthcare experiences and introspectively about the hardships yet triumph that comes with living with a chronic illness. She has been published on numerous platforms including MedPage Today, HuffPost, and in Pulmonary Therapy Journal. Through opportunities working with healthcare organizations and sharing her journey through writing, she aims to affect the healthcare landscape to promote self-advocacy to patients and valuable insights to organizations

Dawn Morgan was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when she was 25 years old. Little did she know two decades later she would become a bold patient leader, podcaster, and advocate. Dawn is the cohost of the Myelin & Melanin podcast where Dawn and her cohost interview patients, well known MS specialists, award winning authors, musical artists, actors, and vloggers who are themselves living with MS, or have a unique perspective on the condition and its community. With over 45,000 unique podcast downloads she strives to spotlight the varied and often unheard voices of those within the MS community. Throughout her journey, Dawn’s work has led her to be part of patient advisory committees, an advocate for women’s health overall, partner to Shift MS and Healthline. Dawn has also been featured in publications such as Well+Good, WebMD, Momentum, and Brain & Life, and MS International Federation global face of MS YouTube campaign. Despite her diagnosis she feels that MS has made her a better and stronger person. Dawn is dedicated to using her platform to amplify the many voices of MS.

Julie A. Stamm was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2007. Following her diagnosis, Julie made it her mission to educate, advocate, and support others battling the disease. She works tirelessly to help lessen the burden each patient has to bear. Her efforts have given her the opportunity to work with physicians, patients, and foundations across the Globe. After the birth of her son in 2016, Julie shifted her focus to supporting the children of parents with a chronic illness. Her children’s book entitled “Some Days We….”  was created to normalize differing abilities and amplify how each of us can thrive in spite of the challenges. The movement she has created has changed the apologetic tone and transformed the child and parent’s experiences into uplifting stories that highlight the patient’s resilience.

My name is Wendy Riese. I am a mother of two children and a New York City public school teacher. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, dining out, traveling, and exercising. I was diagnosed with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis ten years ago. Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease and presently there is no cure for it. When I first received my diagnosis, I felt devastated! Since then, I have tried various treatments for my disease. I am fortunate that my current treatment is helping me to live a better quality of life. My hope is that one day there will be a cure for the approximately 100 million individuals affected worldwide!

Mary H. Wu is an ABC (American-Born Chinese) who was born, raised, and still lives in suburbia Westchester County, NY. She graduated with major studies in Psychology and Communications and minor in Sociology from Manhattanville Collegein Purchase, NY.

She enjoys working with people, and has an extensive professional background that includes working at a nursing home, a non-profit Medicaid agency that services children with severe medical illnesses, and presently at one of the regional sites of Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 

Mary was born with renal agenesis, which caused chronic kidney failure and the start of dialysis at 3-years-old. Her parents, who were immigrants from China, were told that kidney transplantation was the only option to save her life. No one, including her parents, were a viable match as a living kidney donor.

At 10-years-old and as a consequence of lifetime immunosuppressant medication of the transplanted kidneys, Mary was told she had osteoarthritis and avascular necrosis of the left hip, mild scoliosis of her back, and osteopenia of the lumbar spine. It was suspected years later that the core diagnosis leading to bone problems was left hip dysplasia congenital defect, secondary to renal agenesis and chronic kidney failure. She was told that she must undergo a total left hip replacement by the time she was 18-years-old.

Mary is presently 33-year-old and a two-time kidney transplant recipient from deceased donors, receiving her first transplant at 5-years-old and then her second at 12-years-old. In Spring 2013, Mary finally underwent a total left hip replacement surgery by means of an anterior procedural approach. She sought out and is a great supporter of alternative treatments, particularly osteopathy, due to the chronic arthritic pain that was dealt with for twenty years and especially in the last two to five years. In September 2014, she also underwent anpartial hysterectomydue to a suspicious for cancer rapidly growing mass in her uterus.

As a result of her personal experiences at a young age, she has a unique perspective and interest in both the organ donation/transplant and arthritis communities. Mary is greatly involved with various organ donation/transplant organizations, The Arthritis Foundation, and female physical body awareness and issues. She focuses on counseling and supporting organ donor families, pediatric or young adult recipients/candidates and their family/friends, and transplant recipients/candidates of various ethnicities and cultures.

Primarily in the organ donation/transplant community, Mary is always working to increase education, awareness, and especially registration through eclectic and published written articles, connections with political and celebrity figures, and mass and social media outreach. She was sponsored by the Los Angeles-based kidney research organization, UKRO, as their Donate Life Float Rider at the 2012 Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. Secondary to the organ donation/transplant community, she is active in the OB/BYN and arthritis communities.

In her free time, Mary enjoys swimming, traveling, politics/religion, writing, arts and crafts, and anything food and tea related.

Through her advocacy work and partnering with different companies, Olive has gained expertise in public speaking, speaking about living with her condition and getting the emotion of the condition across to the audience. She also teaches researchers and partners about how to work with patients and involve them throughout the production/ research process. Olive has been a co-author on several articles and was also a co- author for the patient and public involvement module for the Clinical Trials Masters program at Edinburgh University. A lot of her time is spent converting academic writing into plain english to make it understandable for the reader but ensuring the correct information is still in the text.