Today we learned that we lost another member of the Gastroparesis community.  A person that I have never interacted with, but will take time to mourn & remember.  Sadly, the number of people we are losing due to Gastroparesis has become more and more common.  There is not a cure for Gastroparesis and extremely limited treatment options.  Individuals with Gastroparesis are quite literally starving to death.

Through on-line support groups, I have made several good friends with Gastroparesis.  These are friends that I will likely never meet in person, but the bond that we have is undeniable.  No one understands life with this condition more than another GPer.  We laugh at the randomness of brain fog, we celebrate each other’s triumphs, and we listen to each other as we struggle to cope with what life has become.

This is why the loss of a member of our community is difficult to handle, even if we have never met the person or interacted with them on-line.  The loss of someone with Gastroparesis is a reminder that there are people quite literally starving to death in front of us.  It is a reminder of what this condition can turn in to.  It is a reminder that medically there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it.

The lack of medical options must change, we must fight to find a cure and treatment options for those that we have lost.  We must succeed in this task.  We must rally together and make our voice heard.

Today we must take a moment to pause and remember all those that we have lost and find a way to push forward through the pain and make our voices heard!

~Millie