Caregiving assumes many forms. Universal for all, caregiving allows a pause in self-focus, a rise above oneself, and a cultivation of compassion so profound as to forge a bond of love that exceeds all limits.
On National Caregivers Day, do not underestimate the power of a touch, of patient listening, or helping with a simple task.
Bottom right image: Sisters provide guidance and care at a Canton, Ohio area school where 94% of students live at or below poverty.
You won’t want to miss this year’s Coraggio Spirit Award presentation Saturday, 10/23/22, at Noon EST! Join us via Zoom to hear Ashley Boucher talk about what motivates her indominable and passionate Coraggio Spirit to live a life of purpose and joy with myasthenia gravis (MG), and what fires up her zeal to volunteer for MG-MI, especially to encourage young people that With Courage You Can!
Join Zoom starting at 9AM and learn from MG and disability experts…the MG-MI Annual Patient Education Conference is free, merely register here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/6th-annual-patient-education-conference-registration-421799913897
Need some enCOURAGEment and resilience for times such as this?
Packing for Coraggio book signing tomorrow at the For Such A Times As This
statewide women’s conference tomorrow. Join us!
To my beautiful survivor sisters, you grew in resilience, strength, and wisdom.
I walked with my hand in yours along the journey, always inspired by your Coraggio.
On the National Day of Encouragement, I am uplifted by the tender acts, small and large, others have done to encourage me. Will you join me today and this week in encouraging someone? Simple, no cost ideas: call someone and say, “I love you” or “Thank you”; email an inspirational phrase, story, or faith quote; find a postcard or note card you never used and mail a simple message; say a prayer for someone; or smile at a stranger or an employee.
Coraggio = enCOURAGEment!
Proclaim it and claim it!
No matter how you might feel this morning, speak positive intentions for yourself:
I Am Healthy!
I Am Joyous!
I Am Focused!
I Am Vibrant!
You may recall Marilyn, the 2017 recipient because of her courage to keep hope despite needing a ventilator to breathe. Myasthenia weakened her diaphragm and she courageously tried a novel diaphragm pacer procedure to stimulate the muscle and help her inhale. I ran into her at a MG-MI support meet and she has been ventilator free and smiling from dimple to dimple! Yay for Coraggio and Marilyn’s hopeful determination! Spread the word about this innovation for vent-dependent myasthenics!
Homage on Int’l Women’s Day to my Hungarian grandmother, who fled the advancing Russian/Soviet army at the end of WWII, my barely 7-year old mother and other daughter at her side, not knowing if she would be reunited with her husband.
The world had been falsely told the Russians were liberators, instead it invaded Hungary, confiscated her estate, and continued decades of brutal occupation.
Despite losing nearly all of her worldly possessions and status, her faith and determination were unshakeable, and she lived her life as refugee and displaced person, with elegant grace and gratitude.
LEAD with LOVE!
Over the past week we celebrated leaders, valentines and acts of kindness.
The collection of these commemorative days encourages us to LEAD with LOVE.
You won’t want to miss the 2021 Coraggio award recipient, especially on the milestone 45 year anniversary of MG-MI. Teaser: the recipient also celebrated a milestone…a 100th Birthday, served as a WWII Air Force pilot, and determinedly attended his local MG meetings…walker and all! October 2nd at 12:05 PM. Registration for the virtual conference is still open! https://mg-mi.org/annual-conference.shtml
Lisa Gigliotti is an attorney who has lived for more than twenty-five years with severe rheumatoid arthritis and serious myasthenia gravis. Through those years’ thirteen major surgeries and use of a wheelchair Lisa has maintained a fulfilling and positive life.
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