PJ Trader

RWAOL Romancing the Words

Today begins a historic event. Writers around the country are joining together to put their keyboards to work for charity. Specifically, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I have taken on the challenge to write 10,000 words in the month of September. For those who know me well, it’s a significant challenge for someone who lacks a certain, shall we say, capability to write more than a few pages a month.

Unleash Your Story
is about helping others in need. The authors of Romance Unleashed banded together to create this unique event. From the Unleash Your Story website:

The idea: An annual event that will Make a Difference for an important cause. We decided a write-a-thon would combine our love of writing with our desire to raise money for charity. This idea became the Unleash Your Story event, a month long write-a-thon that will be fun, help writers set and meet writing goals and encourage both readers and writers to donate as they root for their favorite author or team.

To add to the fun we decided to invite readers to join us for a read-a-thon that will combine their passion for reading with a desire to make a difference.

I’m joining a talented group of writers from RWA Online in the “Romancing the Words” team to raise $1000 towards Cystic Fibrosis. I’m honored to be included with such a prolific and, gulp, hard-working bunch. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

We’d like your help in supporting our cause. Each team member has pledged to raise a portion of our team goal. All we need is you to help with your donation. We’d appreciate anything you can afford, whether that’s $5, $10, $50 or more. Click on one (or more) of our names below and donate today, won’t you. The link will take you to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s website and the team member’s personal page where you can click on a link to make your donation via credit or debit card. It’s just that easy.

And…thanks. From all the heroes and heroines in your favorite books. From the 30,000 Americans who suffer from CF. And from us, too.

Claire Delacroix/Deborah Cooke

Cara Carnes

Maya Milhous

Patti Fischer

Kate Pearce

Marly Mathews

Lyn Cote

Kim Amburn

Pam Trader

“Errors by healthcare professionals are not made on purpose. But most of the time, healthcare professionals do not have access to your information… don’t assume that healthcare providers will know what your health history contains. Make sure they can find out the latest, up-to-date information by using a Medical Alert device. This is of paramount importance if you have diabetes, asthma, chronic heart problems, seizures, drug allergies or take ANY medication on a daily basis.”

Alicia LePard, RN, BC, MSN, CDE, BC-ADM
The Diabetes Center
Campbell County Memorial Hospital

Medical alert devices save lives. And yet they’re often incredibly ugly. In some cases, you pay a lot for that ugliness. It seems to me that if you need to wear one, they could at least be pretty. The Lish kind of got on my case when my day job indicated I would be doing some travel, reminding me that I should be wearing a medical id. She was right (darn it), but when I went shopping for one I just couldn’t see myself wearing most of the bracelets, necklaces, and watches out there. A plain sports band, maybe. But it would clash and be so obvious.

Then I found someone who understands my whining. The fact that it took a fashion-conscious 16 year-old who didn’t want to wear an ugly ID that brought attention to her diabetes to persuade someone to design some good-looking medical ID jewelry astonishes me (and yet, makes it all so clear).

I’ve searched all the websites and the best one by far is Lauren’s Hope for fashionable and fun medical ID jewelry. They combine a single medical ID tag engraved with up to four lines of 25 characters. (I meant for them to add “CRS Syndrome” to mine*, but forgot to put that on the order form.) The tags can be interchanged with any bracelet style so you can change your look any time you want. The bracelets are custom made to accommodate any wrist size and there’s a huge variety of materials you can choose your bracelet from. Leather bolos, elastic tubes, Swarovski crystals, mood beads, fiber optic beads (my fav) and more. They even do some lovely ones with bracelet strands and a watch. Talk about functional!

Here’s a picture of a bracelet with a tag attached. The tag tends to fall to the inside of the wrist, so most of the time all people see if the beaded part.

The next pic shows the bracelet waiting for a tag – this is what makes the system nicely interchangeable. If you look carefully there’s two clasps, one on each end. And the far right one is a standard bracelet with no ID tag, in case you love the bracelet and don’t need a tag.

All of the bracelets come with their signature “Hope” charm and you can add other charms. I have a little paw print one that reminds me of the webdoggies when I’m slaving away. It never fails to make me smile.

If you’ve hesitated to wear a medical alert, do yourself a favor and start wearing one now. It could save your life.