Invisible Illness Awareness Week

Press release about #iiwk13 Lisa Copen, 44, says, "Most people with illness don't want pity. We aren't looking for sympathy, but we do have a desire that when we say we are in pain we are believed. It is hard to cope with a chronic condition that is degenerative and debilitating," says Copen, who has lived with active rheumatoid arthritis for 20 years. "Regardless of our age or how healthy we may appear to be, we struggle to live in a body that no longer functions normally."