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I am so speechless to have won the 2020 WEGO Health Award for The Invisible Hypothyroidism’s Facebook community across Facebook page and accompanying Facebook group.
As I tuned in to the online awards ceremony (in previous years it was held in Las Vegas!) yesterday evening, I felt fortunate just to be a finalist and get the opportunity to shine a few seconds on thyroid disease.
By winning the award, I’ll be able to do even more! Which is brilliant for the thyroid community.
Over 13,000 nominations for the WEGO Health Awards were made this year, so to be a finalist for this award (1 of 6) was crazy enough. To win it was even crazier.
Going from being in such poor health with Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism, to thriving in life again and sharing that with other thyroid patients, has been one heck of a ride these past 5 years.
At my worst point, I was bed-bound, unable to climb stairs without my husband’s help and unfortunately suicidal. My life was in tatters and I swore, when I started to recover my health, that I would help others get out of that position too. None of us should be living such a poor quality of life. We deserve to thrive and not just survive. People with thyroid issues need to be listened to.
I have always been very open and honest about my own experiences as a thyroid patient and will continue to be. We need more openness about this topic, especially on social media. We need to showcase the ups AND downs. The fact that we can feel great for a while and then it all flares up again and goes wonky. The struggles of getting medicated optimally. The struggle to just be listened to.
Thank you to all who took the time to vote and nominate me for these awards.
As part of the prize for winners, I’ll receive a cash sum to put towards advocacy efforts, so if you have any ideas on what this could be used for, do comment below.
Thyroid love x
PS – You can watch a replay of the award ceremony here: https://www.facebook.com/36556179253/videos/670168963611532
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Rachel Hill is the highly ranked and multi-award winning thyroid patient advocate, writer, speaker and author behind The Invisible Hypothyroidism. Her thyroid advocacy work includes writing articles, authoring books, producing her Thyroid Family email newsletters and speaking on podcasts, as well as being a founding board member for the American College of Thyroidology. She is well-recognised as a crucial and influential contributor to the thyroid community and has a large social media presence. Her books include “Be Your Own Thyroid Advocate” and “You, Me and Hypothyroidism”.