(Pictured Above) City of Ottawa 2019 ceremony to renew its “Proclamation of World Lymphedema Day - 6 March, in Ottawa" (CANADA) - pictured at Ottawa City Hall are, left to right, Stephen Kelland - LE&RN: Canada Chapter, Chair, Mayor Jim Watson, and Elaine McArdle, Co-Champion for the Cause as representing the love ones who support those living with lymphedema as a key part of the Lymphedema Community."

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action”.

Message– why “World Lymphedema Day” for 6 March? 

In the mid 1990s, leaders of the disparate, fledgling lymphedema community in the U.S. and Canada landed on 6 March as a day to focus energy on growing awareness of what is lymphedema and why should (would, could) mainstream society be aware of what was then thought to be a rare, in addition to poorly understood and acknowledged, affliction or condition. With modest but stagnant acknowledgement for the ‘Lymphedema Awareness Day’, regionally, in pockets of the U.S. and Canada plus similar efforts for ‘Lymphoedema Awareness Day’ in the U.K., plus Australia and New Zealand, where old-English spelling reigns (oedema vs. edema), awareness-only was the stated aim of the day. Its reach and ultimate success was, unfortunately, limited, perhaps due in part to its very name. In late 2015, fittingly, at a Tim Hortons coffee shop in Manhattan, NYC (U.S.), an introductory, in-person conversation was convened between like-spirited or like-minded Canadian and American members of the then-beginning-to-burgeon “Lymphedema (LE) Community”. The topic of impassioned discussion was: 

1) why not more than ‘awareness’ for THE day (OUR day) …why limit ourselves to ‘awareness-only’; 

2) why not take and proclaim THE day (OUR day) to a global level; plus, 

3) why not clearly and passionately promote THE day (OUR day) …anywhere/everywhere, including expanding the U.S.-based Lymphatic Education and Research Network (LE&RN), internationally? 

Positive outcomes emerged from that meeting, which inclusively and representatively included one afflicted with LE, one personal supporter (spouse) of one living with LE, plus one leader of an inclusive LE organization that, importantly and helpfully, espoused the ideal of ‘doing what one says, saying what one does’in its straightforward naming, i.e. LE&RN – providing a Network dedicated to Education and Research for Lymphatics, notably diseases that impact the human lymphatics (lymphedema, lymphatic filariasis, lipedema and others along the disease/disorder spectrum).

Poignantly, the key results of this meeting were:

1/ the nexus of the fight vs. the scourge that is LE becoming global, with a re-naming that clearly stated “World” in its titling, i.e. “World Lymphedema Day”; 

2/ the removal of the limiting or shackling term of ‘awareness’ in the day’s naming to amplify that the Community (the global community of LE) had far-reaching and medically necessary goals for attention, recognition, plus support for research and education across-the-board leading to a cure(s); plus, 

3/ the groundwork laid for Canada to become the first of many to establish an international chapter in the LE&RN family of organizations. True to its stereotype, the Canada Chapter (the‘Eh’ Chapter) quickly established that the “&” in LE&RN would no longer be silent but rather emblematic of active and vocal advocacy. 

As we recognize and celebrate the growth and increasing development of the LE movement, the plea made to all readers of this blog is to *not* remain silent. Although we need further cooperation, collaboration, complementarity and communications WITHIN the Community, we also need vigilance against our own kind who would disappointingly:

A) continue with awareness-only days; 

B) bastardize the “World Lymphedema Day” branding as ‘world lymphedema awareness day’; or, as has been also evident in parts of the U.S. and Canada.

C) remove the all-important “World” from OUR day, leaving it as ‘lymphedema day’. 

Please consider this as YOUR call to action and your helpful contribution to the worthy cause. By global health body estimates, we are now approximately 300 million strong. Next up …a “World Health Day – 7 April 20??”designated and dedicated to lymphatic diseases (LD) cures. Please signal your much-needed support to the LE&RN-led proposal/petition. 

Food for thought as you consider supporting… “World Lymphedema Day – 6 March 2016”was successfully initiated in concert with this process, i.e. one voice at a time.