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Help send me to Antarctica: vote for my contest entry


Thu, July 09, 2009 12:43 PM

Im in a contest for a trip to Antarctica. The person with the most votes gets to become the official blogger for the trip. My entry and voting link is at

http://echothis.info/V0

Why should you care? I am also an ulcerative colitis patient. I was first diagnosed with UC in 1983, then diagnosed as having Crohns disease in 1994, and finally a pathologist confirmed UC after my total colectomy in 2004. I started my personal weblog three days after my colectomy as a way to keep my family and friends updated about my recovery. (See http://austringer.net/wp/index.php/2004/04/16/first-news-from-the-mews/ ) I had to turn down an opportunity in 1997 to assist in an Antarctic research trip because of my ongoing chronic UC. This is a second chance for me, and Id hate to miss it.

That brings up the question of what I can do. One thing I can definitely do is use the opportunity to raise awareness of UC and Crohns disease. Im in touch with the folks at the Michigan CCFA chapter, and one thing that Im looking to do is to take a bump in votes for my entry as evidence of the size and interest of people with a stake in IBD issues, either as patients or as friends and family of patients. From the vantage point of the trip itself, I can continue to bring up IBD and the CCFA, which will also provide another great opportunity to get the word out. This also has some obvious tie-ins to the CCFA Great Comebacks program (http://www.greatcomebacks.com/ ).  Im open to other suggestions, too.

Now, what you can do...

First, put in a vote at http://echothis.info/V0

Second, help spread the word. The voting ends September 30th, 2009, so there is time for word-of-mouth, email, and networking to have an effect.

Wesley R. Elsberry
Weblog: http://austringer.net/wp/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wesley.r.elsberry
Twitter: http://twitter.com/welsberr

FPO welsberr
Joined Jul 9, 2009

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