Thyroid Awareness Week (UK only) 17th - 23rd Oct 2020

The second Thyroid Awareness Week of the year runs 17th - 23rd October, following #ITAW20 in May (see below), this one is just for people in the UK! 

Our theme will be #ThyroidStories.  

We hope you may find some of the thyroid stories we share this week inspiring and informative and we'd love to hear from you, if you'd like to contribute your own  story, whether you feel there are lessons that you'd like clinicians to learn from what you've been through, or if you want to encourage and inspire other patients, or if you think your experiences would be useful for people who don't yet know about thyroid disease. Awareness raising is so important. 

You can share your story on social media, using the hashtag @ThyroidStories, or directly with us, in confidence, by clicking the button below. 

If you choose to send us your story, you can tell us how you would like it to be used, the below button takes you to an online interview form and explains why we are collecting stories and what we hope to do with them.   

Thyroid Stories

International Thyroid Awareness Week  25th-31st May 2020

International Thyroid Awareness Day 2020, #ITAW20, was 25th May 2020 marking the start of International Thyroid Awareness Week, which ran until 31st May. 

We at The Thyroid Trust were out and about raising awareness and celebrating thyroid patients in the UK.

As a new and tiny charity we need your help to make some noise!

It's harder than ever for thyroid patients' issues to be heard, during these difficult times and of course, we all want to support the NHS to focus on beating the Covid19 pandemic at the moment, first and foremost, since it's such a huge global threat. 

But let's not let this date go by unmarked, it's our day, as people affected by thyroid disease. Our day to acknowledge each other and perhaps take some time to let those around us know a bit more about thyroid health issues. ​

​After all, thyroid disease can often run in families. How much do our loved ones know about thyroid conditions, what to look out for in case they start to become ill and they can best support you, or any of their friends or other family members who may become unwell with thyroid disease. ​​

Special
​Self Care Session

with Michelle Varchione 
​for International Thyroid Awareness Week.
28th May
2pm - 3:30pm 
This event will take place online. 

Michelle has hypothyroidism and is a yoga teacher, based in London. The session will cover all aspects of self care and includes a chance to join in with some simple chair based exercises, with plenty of time for group chat too.  
Please book your FREE place via Eventbrite, 
Donations are welcome but entirely optional.

​We want to see your smiling face and we think we can all benefit from this session  during this difficult time! 
If you're well, celebrate! It's inspiring for anyone newly diagnosed to know that people with thyroid disease can usually live a full and active life, once their condition is well managed. Most people with a thyroid condition can be relatively easily treated. But we know that around 10% of patients, perhaps many more, have a very difficult time with their condition and that in some cases it can be hard to access effective treatment, for lots of reasons, all of which we're determined to address, to make things better over time. If you're one of those people who is currently suffering with a thyroid condition, please know that you're not alone. Reach out. Be informed, ask for help and share your story, so that we can help inform clinicians, researchers and policy makers of the issues that need to be raised. 

We are a brand new charity and still very small. We only completed our registration with the charity commission in May 2019 and as a start-up our resources are currently very stretched, as you might imagine. It's a big thing to set up a new charity. We have created The Thyroid Trust to be a strong voice for patients, to work for everyone affected by thyroid disease, including friends, family and interested professionals and to organise regular events with expert speakers (which are now taking place online, of course) as well as general awareness raising.

We have a huge challenge. We can't do it alone. We work with several partners and we are all learning and growing together.  If you can support us financially with a donation or could even perhaps do some fundraising around International Awareness Day, that would be amazing!

We have some great Thyroid Trust,  'you're not alone', Tshirts available, if you'd like one. ​
Let us know what you're up to by posting on our Facebook Page, Tweeting us, or emailing.

Join us online on 28th May, for a Special Self Care Session with Michelle Varchione - FREE, donations welcome of course, but entirely optional. 

Fantastic Fundraisers get an extra big thumbs up from us, there are some wild and whacky fun activities being planned,  mostly home based, but some that can be done during daily allowable outdoor exercise. So far we have runners wearing  wearing butterfly wings, butterfly facepaints, a cycling challenge with a butterfly theme, creating butterfly artworks and more! 

Some of us will be Spelling out THYROID, or tracing butterfly shaped routes, all over the country, dressed as butterflies, during our permitted exercise times on International Thyroid Awareness Day...  Join in, let's raise the profile of thyroid health!

Obviously, all activities need to not be done in groups, but as individuals, do be sure to observe the government's social distancing guidelines. Stay safe and we'd love to see any photos or videos you take. 

​Use the hashtag #ThyroidAwareness to share. 

Get graphics to share here.