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March UM Meeting in Anderson, SC for Lymphedema D-Day

posted Jan 13, 2013, 9:09 PM by Bobby Clark   [ updated Mar 4, 2013, 3:37 PM ]
Anderson, South Carolina  - In celebration of the first ever Lymphedema Awareness Month, the Upstate Monarchs will deviate from our normal meeting location on March 6, 2013 (Lymphedema D-Day) and meet at the Cancer Association of Anderson (CAA) located at 215 E. Calhoun Street,  Anderson, South Carolina at 6 PM, instead our normal time of 5 PM. 

The Upstate Monarchs is a support group composed of people dealing with Lymphedema and medical providers serving Lymphedema patients. 

We are having our regular meeting in Anderson in March to promote the group to Anderson patients and providers. We are planning a special speaker at the Anderson meeting, Jeanne Nourse, to speak about Cancer-related Lymphedema and how to recognize the early signs on the condition.  Jean is an Anderson Occupational and Lymphedema Therapist who runs the Lymphedema Center for AnMed. She was named 2012 Star of the Year and appears on the cover of AnMed Health’s recent “2012 Year In Review” supplement to the Anderson Independent Mail. 

"We hope to spur interest in our support group by meeting in Anderson and developing a satellite Anderson meeting which meets on a different date to support Anderson members and reduce traveling time for Greenville members.” says Kathy Garraty UM Secretary. "We have a number of interested people in Anderson and we want to increase our awareness and availability to those in need."

The group plans to continue special meeting when warranted to spread the word of living with lymphedema in the entire Upstate region. "We meet monthly in Greenville, SC. However, we hope the public will see this is an opportunity to get value information about this condition and to meeting others with similar needs and problems.", says, Bobby Clark, President of Upstate Monarchs. 

For more information, please contact Kathy Garraty or Bobby Clark at group emailing address, contact@upstatemonarchs.org, or Group phone number (864) 214-6006.

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About Lymphedema D-Day & Lymphedema Awareness Month

In 1994, the NLN created the first Lymphedema D-Day to recognize inspirational patients, caregivers, and therapists and to advocate for lymphedema awareness. Since then, recognition of lymphedema as a prevalent condition has grown nationwide. This year, the National Lymphedema Network . www.lymphnet.org,  is thrilled to declare March 2013 as our first Lymphedema Awareness Month!

Time to reach out your friends, family, health providers, and community to spread the word lymphedema. By putting the national spotlight on Lymphedema we move closer to making a change!

What is Lymphedema?
  • Lymphedema is a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling caused by a compromised lymphatic system and comes in two types: Primary and Secondary.
  • The Lymphatic system helps the blood system remove waste and deliver white blood cells to the body.  
  • If you have Lymphedema it means your body doesn’t remove that waste properly. Those with the condition may have too few lymph nodes or a blockage or malfunction with the lymphatic system. Either way, patients with this condition develop swelling in one or more of their extremities. Mild cases are inconvenient. Extreme cases can be more debilitating. Elephantiasis is an extreme case of lymphedema.
for more information about the condition, visit our quick primer or visit the National Lymphedema Network at www.lymphenet.org.