WK Takes 2nd Place in "Best Health Blogs" Contest!

Hey folks, thanks to your votes Wheelchair Kamikaze took 2^nd place in Healthline.com’s “Best Health Blogs” contest! This is really a terrific honor, particularly because of the fierce competition – 382 other blogs were nominated to participate in the contest. Big congratulations to the two 1^st place winners who apparently tied in the voting, “Lizzie’s Lungs” (click here) and “ALS and Wellness” (click here), as well as 3^rd place winner “Early Onset Alzheimer’s” (click here). And of course, a huge thank you to Healthline.com (click here) for running the contest. Although Wheelchair Kamikaze has been honored as among the top MS blogs in the past, I believe this is the first time it’s been recognized as one of the best health blogs in general. BTW, Healthline's graphic department came up with the above image. I'm not THAT much of an egomaniac…

Healthline has generously awarded Wheelchair Kamikaze $500 for its second-place finish. I’d like to donate this prize money to a worthy MS nonprofit, and I’d like Wheelchair Kamikaze readers to pick which organization should get the big bucks. We’ll do this via an online vote, much the way Healthline’s contest winners were chosen. I’ve taken the liberty to nominate four worthy organizations from which to choose. Here’s some brief background on the chosen organizations to help inform your vote. I’ve arranged the candidates in alphabetical order.

• The Accelerated Cure Project (click here) – The ACP is the organization administering the iConquerMS project (click here), a patient-centric research project in which MS patients can take a personal stake in advancing the cause of MS research by completing a series of online questionnaires, suggesting research topics of importance to them, and providing their feedback on research studies. By “crowdsourcing” a massive amount of data supplied by MS patients themselves, iConquerMS is compiling an unprecedented database on all aspects of MS that is open to researchers worldwide. This huge pool of information should reveal trends and insights into and about the disease that otherwise would have been missed by looking at smaller pools of data. I strongly encourage all readers to visit the iConquerMS website to sign up and begin participating in this tremendously important project. Your information has power, and together we can conquer MS. (Full disclosure: I am a member of the iConquerMS engagement committee).
• The Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (click here) – BNAC is a research organization devoted to shedding light on the mysteries of multiple sclerosis and other neurologic diseases through the use of innovative imaging techniques and advanced analytic tools. The group did some of the first rigorous scientific research on CCSVI when Dr. Zamboni’s vascular theory of MS first made headlines, producing findings that cast some doubt on the causative role of venous abnormalities in MS. Their research has expanded to include the role that vascular abnormalities might play in exacerbating a wide range of neurological disorders. Lead researcher Dr. Robert Zavidanov directs a team of medical researchers and scientists of a variety of disciplines, who, among many other projects, have probed the role that gray matter lesions and inflammation of the tissues that surround the central nervous system play in the MS disease process. BNAC has pioneered many revolutionary imaging techniques. Their work promises to change in a fundamental way our understanding of Multiple Sclerosis. (Full disclosure: I’m on the patient advisory board of BNAC).
• The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (click here) – The MSAA provides vital services and support to MS patients throughout the United States. Programs include a Helpline with trained specialists; award-winning educational videos and publications, including MSAA’s magazine, The Motivator; safety and mobility equipment distribution; cooling accessories for heat-sensitive individuals; educational programs held across the country; and Lending Library among other services. For MS patients in financial need, the Association provides assistive equipment and cooling garments free of charge, as well as financial assistance for those who cannot afford to get MRIs. The scope of services and information provided by the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America is truly astounding, and even includes a smart phone app that helps patients manage their MS. Their website is a terrific resource for information on all things MS. I encourage all Wheelchair Kamikaze readers to visit the MSAA website and poke around, it’s a veritable treasure trove of information and vital services.
• The Tisch MS Research Center of New York (click here) – The Tisch Center is a worldwide leader in cutting-edge multiple sclerosis research, and is currently in preparations to begin the first FDA approved Phase 2 regenerative stem cell trial in MS patients ever conducted, expected to get started this June. The Center is building the largest stem cell research laboratory in the world, and its staff of world-class researchers has developed proprietary methodologies that transform raw mesenchymal stem cells into cells specific to the central nervous system, which should prove to be much more capable of repairing the damage done by MS than the raw cells themselves. Under the guidance of Dr. Saud Sadiq, the Tisch center is involved in a wide variety of transformative MS research projects, from identifying new disease biomarkers to understanding the mechanisms behind disease progression. The Tisch MS Research Center is totally devoted to finding the cure for Multiple Sclerosis, which is of course the ultimate desire of every MS patient and all those who love them. (Full disclosure: Dr. Sadiq is my personal neurologist).

Please take a thorough look at all of the above candidates, and vote for whichever organization you would like to see receive the $500 awarded to Wheelchair Kamikaze by Healthline.com. The poll is located at the top of the left-hand column of this page. I’ll leave the poll open for 7 days, so the results can be determined just before Christmas. Of course, all of these organizations are great candidates for your own charitable giving, should you be so inclined. Ho Ho Ho…

Once again, thanks so much to everyone who voted for Wheelchair Kamikaze in the best health blog contest…

Please Vote! – Wheelchair Kamikaze Nominated for Best Healthcare Blog Award

 
 

I'm proud to announce that Wheelchair Kamikaze has been nominated for "Best Healthcare Blog" in Healthline.com's annual best blog awards contest (click here). The winner of the contest will be decided by the votes of none other than the readers of the nominated blogs.

In fact, the nominations also came from blog readers, though I have no idea who nominated Wheelchair Kamikaze. I was completely unaware that the nomination process had begun, so I swear it wasn't me who proffered the nomination. But some very nice person or persons were kind enough to throw Wheelchair Kamikaze's name into the hat. Thanks, whoever you are. I had my suspicions as to who might have been the culprit, but my mom swears it wasn't her. Still, I have my doubts. When I was 26 years old she submitted a poem I had written in the third grade about how wonderful she was to the local Fort Lauderdale newspaper, which printed it – along with a hideous picture of me at eight years old, complete with coke bottle glasses and hair that looked like it was styled in a blender – on Mother's Day. This was just a few months after I had moved to the area and was just beginning to form a circle of friends. The day it was published was the day I learned how to spell "mortified".

Anyway, Healthline's Best Blog contest is decided by votes, so I'm asking all who appreciate these pages to cast a vote for Wheelchair Kamikaze (click here). As a matter of fact, you can cast more than one vote, since the rules allow for each person to vote daily. So, as they say in Chicago, vote early and vote often.

The voting actually started on November 21, so I'm a little late to the game because I've been engaged in hand-to-hand combat with some new and particularly unpleasant MS related crap. I'm like the butcher who backed into his meatgrinder and got a little behind in his work. Okay, just for dusting off that moldy oldie – which had them rolling in the aisles 60 years ago on the Borscht Belt (click here) – I think I deserve a vote or ten. And just my bringing up something as random and esoteric as the Borscht Belt should also be a vote-getter. Am I not just the most adorable thing… I'm not competitive or anything, but world domination has always been high on my bucket list. Today the blogosphere, tomorrow the world!

Healthline.com is offering a very generous $1000 prize to the winner of the contest. If I do win, half of the prize money will go to a worthy MS nonprofit, and it won't be the NMSS. Hey, here's an idea: I'll run a poll on the blog about which nonprofit should get the donation, on behalf of all of us. Won't that be fun? Voting ends on December 12, and, as I previously said, people can vote each and every day until the end of the voting period.

In all seriousness, writing Wheelchair Kamikaze has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The fact that I've been able to help some of my fellow travelers on this rocky road that we've all been forced to follow leaves me humbled and grateful. The blog has allowed me to meet and interact with some of the bravest, most resilient, and remarkable people I've ever known, each fighting their own personal MS battle with immeasurable bravery and fortitude even in the face of the incomprehensible confusion and fear engendered by the disease. Wheelchair Kamikaze has given me a sense of purpose through my own struggle with the madness of Multiple Sclerosis, and I'm fairly certain I would not have made it this far without the support I have received from readers all over the world, many of whom have offered words of encouragement, kinship, and thanks that have more than once brought me to tears. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

If you care to cast a vote, please (click here). And once again, an immense thank you to each and every person who has helped make Wheelchair Kamikaze successful beyond my wildest dreams. I simply don't have the words to express the feelings I have for every patient, caregiver, and medical professional who has participated in WK these past seven and half years. What all of you have given me is simply priceless. And no contest win or lose will ever change that.

If you do vote, please use the search box on the contest page (click here) to find Wheelchair Kamikaze, as there are 383 blogs in the contest.

Thanks again for your support.

Addendum:  Thanks to everyone who has already voted. Don't forget, you can vote every day until December 12.

I understand there are several hoops you have to go through to vote. First, you need to find my blog among the list of 383 blogs that were nominated. The easiest way to do this is through the search box on the contest webpage, and just search for "wheelchair". This way you don't have to try to figure out how to spell Kamikaze, and the search engine will bring you right to my blog.

After you enter your email address and vote, you need to scroll up the page to find the little "capcha" box to prove you're not a robot. Then you will get a confirmation email on which you need to click a link to confirm your vote.

Geez, guess they must be super worried about voter fraud or something. It's easier to vote for president…