" A Night to Remeber" - Silent Auction for Lipedema

I know this has nothing to do with wedding invitations, but i wanted a place where i could share with my friends and family who all came out to my fundraiser for Lipedema!
With your generous donations I was able to raise $4372.00 to go to the Lipedema Foundation
http://www.curelipedema.org/

Here is my speech from the Silent Auction Night

Welcome everyone, and THANKYOU for coming out to support this cause. Your love and support means so much to me and it really gives a warm feeling to know that so many people care.

For those of you who may not know what  Lipedema is, I will just share with you what I know. You may even know someone with the same body description and the same complaints about pain and therefore this night will all have been worth it if you can make somone else aware of this condition.  It's a very misdiagnosed condition in Canada and the United States, and therefore treatment is nearly impossible to get here. In General Lipedema is a painful fat disorder which affects the andipose tissue of the skin and it occures exclusively in women. Swelling often extends from the waist down, almost in a distinct line towards the ankles.

Some of you may look at me and think " there is no way that she could have a fat disorder" but you would be amazed what pants can hide when you are in Stage 1 of the disease like I am. Some of you may have noticed that I don't wear skirts, dresses, bathing suits etc. as I am very self concience of my lower body image.

If Lipedema is untreated it can cause a multiple number of health problems leading to mobility issues. I have some information printed out and if you will take the time to read it,  you will know what I am talking. The pictures on the pamphlet will tell the story. Most cases generally develop during puberty which is where MY story begins.

Having started puberty rather late in life at about the age of 18, I noticed that my legs were a bit swollen and mentioned it to my doctor and was told "you just have thick legs". At that time I didn't have any of the pain associated with Lipedema, so I tried to ignore that it was there. Because Lipedema is brought on by hormonal changes, I didn't have the next run in with it until I was pregnant with Quinn. My legs became huge and again asked the doctor about it and was told "it is just pregnancy fluid and it will go away" once you have the baby.  

A year later the swelling was still there and increasing and that's when the pain started, I remember going to the family doctor and telling him I  felt like I had the flu "you know when your body aches" but just from the waist down.  I told him my legs were very restless, resulting in me not getting a descent night's sleep. He told me at that  time to take vitamin B and that I was probably lacking it.... but he did not give me anything for the swelling. So off I went to take vitamin B.

Well that didn't seem to fix the problem, so I went to see a specialist in internal medicine and he diagnosed me with Lymphedema. You see, Lipedema is not well known to many doctors here. The specialist told me to wear compression stockings and it would go away. Well, that didn't happen. Also with Lymphedema it is not painful and there is pitting if you press the skin in, where as Lipedema is painful and non pitting.
So after that not being of much help, I looked into seeing a Lymphatic massage person who told me that I have Lipedema not lymphedema. !! So she gave me massages which helped with the pain management.

My Aunt also had Lipedema and Lymphadema hers had worsened over time as she had Lymph node cancer as well and the Chemo does not spare the Lymphatic system. She passed away a year ago and I could really relate to her as she had this same condition as I do. She had not gotten any treatments for her Lipedema and she always said she wished more could have been done.
I will be travelling to Germany in May to get a tumescent  liposuction procedure done which is performed on  Lipedema patients there. It consists of taking out those fat nodules that are causing pain and swelling. Studies show that it is supposed to take away 95 percent of the pain and help a bit with the visual effects. It can arrest the sysmptom from going to stage two and three for up to 10 years. Altough Lipedema is Chronic, and there is no cure for it, this seems to be the best long term treatment thus far. I will have to go to Germany three times this year as they can't do it all at one time. I am hoping for the best and that this will work for me.

There are a few people I would like to thank tonight. The first being my husband who has stood by me and supported me thoughout this process. He has helped immensely in making this auction happen. Thanks honey, you're the best!

As most of you know my mother in law Pat has come in and learned how to preform lympahtic massage and has been giving me treatments of up to 3-4 times a week now for about 1/2 year. She has been such a great support system for me ! I am so thankful to her for all she does. You are truly an amazing person.

I also want to thank Uncle Tony and Aunt Margo for genuinly being so intrested and looking up research, this support means so much to me.. to know that someone cares that much to go out of their way is something to be thankful for.

Also to Becky and Ron for bringing the PA system.... without their help you probably would not be able to hear me !!

Thank you to all the family, friends and businesses who have donated for tonights auction.  People  have come out of the wood work to help out which has made me feel so loved and grateful. And a big thank you to all of you  for coming here tonight to learn about what lipedema is, which was  the main reason I wanted to host this auction. All proceeds will be going to the Lipedema Foundation by Beau Dunn and Dr. Karen Hurst for research and to spread awareness. We hope that someday Canadian and American doctors will ALL know about Lipedema so people can be properly diagnosed.

Go to http://www.curelipedema.org/ to find out more info on Lipedema