OK, listen up…

This is where it all comes together in your mind – it did in mine.

I was saying to a friend that the more people that “played along” the better it is, and she asked me what ‘playing along’ entails. I thought this is a valid question because it’s not been articulated. I’m articulating it, and once it’s articulated, it makes a tonne of sense.

We are all in this together. Whether you have MS, RA, Lupus, Vasculitis, Liver Disease, Endometriosis, Eczema, Raynaud’s Syndrome, Restless legs syndrome, Wegener’s Granulomatosis, narcolepsy or over a hundred others, we all have autoimmune disease. So what this PJ Day mission entails is that whoever you’re cheering for, for whatever personal reason you have, put on your PJ’s this March 1st and go about your business. If you’re a group that puts on fundraisers, go ahead and do one in your PJ’s and send the money to your favourite autoimmune disease charity organization. If you like to party, get a PJ Party going. If you like to run, go out for a run in your PJ’s. In Jasper we have a pretty sweet ski area, so there will definitely be some PJ skiing ( a PJ Ski Race in fact.)

Right here, right now, the mission is to raise awareness of how many of us are truly out there. There are lots. Lots that are affected directly but then there are our families and friends, our bosses, and our neighbours… autoimmunity affects our society more than we can imagine. Why? Because up to now we’ve all been busy trying to solve the problems of our own diseases and missing the forest for the trees. We are part of something much bigger, much much bigger. And if we all rock our PJ’s on March 1st regardless of who we are rooting for ( in fact we’re glad you’re rooting for someone,) we can show them how very many of us are out there.

The more knowledge there is out there about autoimmunity and the insane numbers, the more likely people will get diagnosed sooner in their search for answers and eliminate life threatening situations. This will only happen as autoimmunity becomes regarded as a disease that affects 20% of the population and rising instead of a rarity.

So you don’t have to be in Jasper to make a difference. This is just where it got birthed and has a lot of relatives in town. Our big statements will be made when everyone affected, directly and indirectly, will wear their PJ’s in solidarity to show government and research and the medical profession that our invisible diseases are not invisible any more. Invisible no more.

They’re clad in their softest, comfiest jammies.