ibdcure.org | mystory | why the stamp campaign

"My Child...

was diagnosed with Crohn's as a three month old infant at (Johns) Hopkins and is running out of options...we need awareness badly NOW!"

-An anonymous supporter from Acworth, Georgia

Over the years, the idea of creating a postage stamp has surprised many people. When most people hear about anyone trying to conquer a disease, they often think of money the first priority. In actuality, it isn't.

Money doesn't just come out of the government's pocket. In fact, sometimes, it takes a devastating event to occur to a Congressional member, or someone close to a Congressional member before the government starts to realize how severe a particular illness is. This is not to say that it's too hard to get money, but before you start asking for money, you have to ask yourself "will it be put to good use?"

ANY money donated to research can make a ultimately positive impact, but only to a certain extent if there is an awareness deficit:

Say there's "disease A." About a million people have it in the USA, over 4 million worldwide. Public awareness for disease A is dangerously low, and the number of researchers and physicians for disease A is substantially lower than other diseases with the same number of people afflicted. There is then a major effort to ask the government for funding to chase medial leads in the lab, but the number of leads are even that great. Political pressure on Congress and the pharmaceuticals to crank R&D bucks into the cause is at a bare minimum due to a lack of public awareness.

Let's stop calling disease A "disease A," and let's replace it with the name "Inflammatory Bowel Disease." Now that the above facts have been stated, we can talk about why asking for money to conquer a disease is simply not the first step to take.

"I Want...

many people to be aware of the fact that it [IBD] exists. Knowing is the first part!

-An anonymous supporter from Rockville, Maryland

If there is an absolute bare minimum of public awareness of IBD, there is very little political pressure on Congress and the pharmaceuticals to even give funds to the cause. Moreover, even if (by chance) a substantial amount is given for research, there's still a problem with the general public not knowing about IBD. There aren't enough researchers, physicians, and most importantly, there isn't enough motivation from the public to urge people to go into research and to perform the research itself. Going straight for money for research is tempting, but it does tend to pick up unnecessary baggage along the way that will not put the money to it's BEST use.

What initially motivated me to create an IBD stamp was the fact that my doctors were IBD specialists, and factually, knew very little about the condition. There were too many questions coming out of my mouth, and not enough answers coming back at me. Then over the years, I ran into literally hundreds of people that were clueless as to what IBD was, and this pushed me over the edge, in a very positive way.

My first instinct was "awareness." I said to myself that awareness was the key to a cure. That you can't go around the root of the problem, you have to go right to it.

So I then started my crusade to raise awareness of IBD. In a short, two-step, simple process, I say this to people who are new to IBD:

This is what I have (what IBD is), and;
Here's how you can help

Believe it or not, it's made a much bigger impact so far that I would've made if I had gone to the government begging for money--because now it's not only me saying I want to see a cure for this disease, but thousands and thousands of other people are saying the same thing too.

When a stamp for IBD is issued, it will:

Increase awareness among the general public
Enhance the political pressure from the public to the government and drug companies to use more research and development funds to finally step-up the research
As a result, a cause and cure should be found

As you can see, if the chain is broken, it's more difficult to find a cure by begging for money on the spot. Going to the root of the problem will benefit the cause more effectively in the future.

The lack of public awareness of IBD really has been the key motivating factor in this entire Campaign. I hope that you will educate yourself on IBD, the IBDSC, and and pass your knowledge to others. All it takes is simple email to family members and friends to tell them about our website.

...You should remind yourself that by taking action, you will be bringing the millions of people with IBD one day closer to a cure.

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