Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Health blogs provide a port in life's storms

Local bloggers find safe haven for sharing their health battles

11:57 AM CST on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
By KATHLEEN GREEN / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
dmngreen@sbcglobal.net

When Kathleen Weaver got her Type 2 diabetes diagnosis five years ago, she started the fight of her life. The disease that took her father wasn't about to get the best of her.

MICHAEL AINSWORTH/DMNDenise McCallum of Fort Worth (left) talks to multiple sclerosis support group co-founders Teresa Wynne (center) and Tracy Brinton at Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington. "
Denise McCallum of Fort Worth (left) talks to multiple sclerosis support group co-founders Teresa Wynne (center) and Tracy Brinton at Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington.

"Living with him terminally ill for two years because of the diabetes and cardiovascular complications, it scared the hell out of me," says Ms. Weaver, who just turned 48. "That kind of slapped me in the face."

She was determined to live well past the age when her father died: 48. So she made it her mission to educate herself about the illness. The Internet became a trove of the latest research, advances and medicines.

But her biggest source of help was a blog. Like many other Americans living with chronic conditions, she turned to faceless friends for support and information.

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