Welcome to the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge brought together by WEGO Health – a social network for all health activists.  Again, I am participating in the annual Writer’s Month Challenge in which I will be writing about my health activism and health condition based on given prompts.

Friday 17th April: Health Tagline 

Give yourself, or your patient experience a tagline.  Grab attention with your slogan.  Make sure it’s catchy!

To come up with a tagline to encapsulate the patient experience or life with chronic illness is extremely onerous.  There are many facets to life with a long-term health condition; some good and some bad.  How on earth could we summarise everything that we have to face every day in just one sentence?

If we could turn back the clock and given some medical literature about our condition, what would we want the tagline of the pamphlet to be?

I know after, I was given a diagnosis of a long-standing brain stem lesion, my thoughts were consumed on the long-term aspect of the condition.  My thoughts were preoccupied with knowing that my life will never be normal again and that no amount of medications will eliminate the symptoms caused by the neurological condition.

Therefore, I would want to read a slogan that could alleviate the fears of being diagnosed with a long-term condition, as well as providing hope that although life will be forever changed, and certain aspects of our lives might be lost, there are still plenty to look forward to and experiences that we can still take part in, and so on.   My slogan would envision hope and positivity despite the unclear outlook for the future.  Also, as my neurological condition is rare, and therefore any support for a condition like mine is non-existent, I wanted a slogan that is inclusive; a slogan that encompasses everyone living with a chronic illness, regardless of the diagnosis.

A friend was recently struggling herself due to her own diagnosis, and wanting to do something nice for her, during her time of need, I sent a card and letter.  In the letter, I wrote “Rainbows and sunshine can still be found even in the darkest of times“, and so I would choose this as my slogan.  I know the tagline does not specifically relate to me, or my patient experience, but it does cover something that we all need at times – and that is hope.  Hope for a better tomorrow.