Three Individuals Harness Social Media to Have Their Voices Heard

For RLS Awareness Day 2016, we at the Foundation were floored by the tremendous force of advocacy shown by our RLS family, especially through social media. For one of our Ten Ways to Spread RLS Awareness , we encouraged everyone to take to social media, change their profile pictures to our Awareness Day image and to tag the Foundation. The following individuals went above and beyond the call of duty - cheers to our winners!

Erin (Twitter)

Erin took to Twitter to retweet nearly all of our Awareness Day messages and get the word out. Go Erin!

"RLS Awareness matters and means so much to me for educating others! I've had it since I was at least 9 years old, and thought it was just something weird with me until I'd heard my mom talk of her dad's restless legs syndrome when I was a teen... I was amazed to hear her describe partially what I'd thought I was alone in. There [are] too many things that too many dismiss to be 'all in one's head' and RLS should NOT be one of those!"

Renee (Facebook)

Renee was a true RLS awareness advocate - posting this message over a month before RLS Awareness Day 2016, and urging others to educate themselves about this little known yet devastating disease:

"For the next 6 weeks my Profile Photo will be set to bring awareness to Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Many of you may not know that I (and my mom) suffer greatly from this terrible disease. While most would consider this not a life threatening disease...I can tell you first hand that IT IS life altering.

"There are countless nights of not sleeping because my legs will not stop moving (even with medications), or have a creepy crawling feeling, they jerk to the point of knocking my husband out of bed or forcing me to get up and walk around the house in the middle of the night. During the day my legs are always moving, always wiggling, or always jumping...to the point of embarrassment at times. The medications available for RLS unfortunately come with side effects that are not pleasant...and I know them all too well.

"PLEASE join me in raising awareness for RLS by:

#1 Liking my profile photo (it will also enter me into a contest to win a prize)
#2 By please take the time to read about it and understand it.
#3 If someone you know has RLS...please pray for them, encourage them and support them.

#RLSAwarnessDay2016 #Cure4RLS #YouAreNotAlone"

RLS Advocacy Award: Gary (Facebook)

Gary used Facebook to reveal to his network that he had been struggling with RLS since 2011, something that he had been desperately trying to hide. This year for RLS Awareness Day, Gary found the bravery to overcome his insecurities and open up.

"RLS Awareness Day matters to me because it's important to put a face and life story to this condition, that is often dismissed as 'not real'. I was diagnosed while being a full-time graduate student, studying to become a higher education academic advisor; this lifestyle requires a lot of reading, sitting, and being still from the waist down! My husband is great with assisting me with RLS pains via deep tissue massage and adapting his life around me. I want to raise awareness by 'coming out' about this aspect of my life in hopes to inspire others to take steps with getting evaluated for this medical condition; to encourage the general public about this condition; and to encourage medical professionals to take RLS more seriously in their practice."