Arthritis National Research Foundation

Arthritis sucks. Rheumatoid Arthritis is especially sucky.

Here's a gentle description of what happened to my grandmother from the Arthritis National Research Foundation.

She once swam competitively, but no longer could. She had difficulty doing the shopping for her family. Everyday pleasures were dulled by pain. The simplest movements required tremendous effort and concentration.

Joyce Sontag was a victim of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a debilitating, progressive autoimmune disease. She was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 35 and lived 37 long years fighting the disease's progress in her body and in her life. Sadly, her family watched this decline without being given much hope for relief or remission, other than the treatment of symptoms.

Mrs. Sontag was hospitalized at the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center when she died from complications of rheumatoid arthritis in 1993. The treatments she received for RA from the late 1950s to the 1990s often had more negative side effects than positive effects for pain relief. The disease spread beyond the joints to other organs. Gradually, Mrs. Sontag became more and more debilitated, suffering acute weight loss and spinal column degeneration.

The Sontag Foundation

So, this is me urging you to donate to the ARNF or other organization supporting scientific research into the causes and treatment of arthritis.

Donate to the ARNF

(If you're wealthy, I will love you forever if your donation puts my Uncle in his place.)

USC Pain Run

This will be an important event. Normally I only run when chased, but I'll make an exception for this. Please help out however you can:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The USC Pain Center is planning an exciting event:

The USC, QUENCH THE FIRE, 5 K Run
December 2, 2007, in Long Beach

for the support of education, research, and treatment of RSD

RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, aka Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) is a condition caused by a malfunction within the nervous system that causes chronic, burning pain. The condition can be severe and disabling.

Research, education, and most importantly, treatment efforts have been greatly hampered by a lack of awareness of this condition, even in the medical community. But RSD is not rare—estimates vary that between 200, 000 to 1.2 million Americans are currently suffering with this condition.

In order to garner as much support for this wonderful project as possible, we have one simple request of you. TO HELP SPREAD THE WORD, all you need to do is to forward this email/ letter to everyone you know.

Of course, you can also email us back at 5k@uscpain.org to get more information, to volunteer at the race, to help in the planning of the event, to help get corporate sponsors, to donate items, or even to make tax deductable contributions to “Keck School of Medicine of USC” (note “USC Pain Center” in the memo section). Or simply send us your email and/or regular mail addresses to be on our mailing lists.

Our hope is that this ‘grass roots’ level of support finally gets RSD the attention it deserves! Your help CAN make a difference. Thank you so much for your interest and support of this exciting event, and we sure hope you can be with us on race day – it promises to be a very special event!

Best regards,
Steven Richeimer, MD
Chief, Division of Pain Medicine

I'll post additional information as I get it.

USC Pain Run

This will be an important event. Normally I only run when chased, but I'll make an exception for this. Please help out however you can:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The USC Pain Center is planning an exciting event:

The USC, QUENCH THE FIRE, 5 K Run
December 2, 2007, in Long Beach

for the support of education, research, and treatment of RSD

RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, aka Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) is a condition caused by a malfunction within the nervous system that causes chronic, burning pain. The condition can be severe and disabling.

Research, education, and most importantly, treatment efforts have been greatly hampered by a lack of awareness of this condition, even in the medical community. But RSD is not rare—estimates vary that between 200, 000 to 1.2 million Americans are currently suffering with this condition.

In order to garner as much support for this wonderful project as possible, we have one simple request of you. TO HELP SPREAD THE WORD, all you need to do is to forward this email/ letter to everyone you know.

Of course, you can also email us back at 5k@uscpain.org to get more information, to volunteer at the race, to help in the planning of the event, to help get corporate sponsors, to donate items, or even to make tax deductable contributions to “Keck School of Medicine of USC” (note “USC Pain Center” in the memo section). Or simply send us your email and/or regular mail addresses to be on our mailing lists.

Our hope is that this ‘grass roots’ level of support finally gets RSD the attention it deserves! Your help CAN make a difference. Thank you so much for your interest and support of this exciting event, and we sure hope you can be with us on race day – it promises to be a very special event!

Best regards,
Steven Richeimer, MD
Chief, Division of Pain Medicine

I'll post additional information as I get it.