Diana Keough, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of ShareWIK writes this introduction that will give you a better idea of her site.
You’re smart, well read. You want to know the truth. And you want more than what you can pick up spending 10 minutes with your doctor. You want shared experiences. The kind of support that doctors, most medical web sites and textbooks simply can’t provide.
But there’s so much dubious and confusing medical information on the Internet and in the press.
What can you do?
Genuine Support Starts With a Real Conversation.
Over a year ago, I was lunching with friends, talking about problems we were having with our kids, disagreements with our husbands and concerns over how to care for aging parents who lived in another state.
The three of us leaned in and listened as we each took turns talking.
One friend weighed in with how she handled a certain situation. I then shared what I had done in a similar situation, admitting I wished I had handled things differently, given the perspective of time.
There we were, three women talking about our lives, the way women tend to do over a cup of coffee, glass of wine or bowl of soup.
Not that fakey, fakey, “Everything’s fine,” kind of talk but rather “this is really what’s going on, can you help me, have you been through it, can you share what you know?”
When my mom, who lived out-of-state, was diagnosed with a terminal illness, my girlfriends called friends who called other friends. They directed me to treatments and different resources to help me care for her, long distance.
Thank God for my friends! They saved me from wasting time and hitting frustrating dead ends.
What I Know Now Before Seeing the Doctor, Going in for Surgery, Trying that Experimental Treatment
All of us have a story to tell. A loss, an illness, a tragedy begins to make sense when you can share that story with someone else, offering your experience and helpful advice so someone else doesn’t have to make the same mistakes you did.
ShareWIK.com provides this personal, intimate dynamic on a global scale. We are a community, a safe place where you can be real, ask questions, tell your story, share what you know and help others.
We’ll talk about what’s important to women, men, your children and your aging parents so you never have to feel alone when faced with a breast cancer diagnosis, when you’re waiting up all night for a teenager to come home or when you find out your father had a stroke.
A particular treatment didn’t work, or you experienced particular side effects? A surgery hurt like heck or a procedure you tried wasn’t all that it’s touted to be? Depression, anxiety, addiction stealing a family member’s life? Is your husband no longer interested in sex? Caring for an aging parent is exhausting, challenging, heartbreaking? What did you do? How did you handle it? Are there resources you discovered that may help someone else? Others want to know details, details and more details. The good, the bad, the nitty-gritty.
You Don’t Have To Face Things Alone
The videos, podcasts, columns and blogs on ShareWIK.com are grounded in solid medical research and scientific data but exhibit a personal, experiential approach to storytelling.
Members of our site will benefit from hearing patient experiences and wisdom shared by others in blogs, vblogs and from our extensive panel of physicians and experts who will give you straight answers and make complex health topics easy to understand.
Share What I Know (ShareWIK.com) is an informative, sometimes sassy but always smart interactive social networking medical site dedicated to allowing you to learn from the experience of others.
If you are interested in having these types of conversations, then let me encourage you to become a member of the ShareWIK community.
Join us. Share your story. Offer encouragement, a shoulder. Discover others who have already experienced what you’re going through and can help.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
Oh, and one more thing. Welcome home.
Best,
Diana Keough
Co-founder, Editor-In-Chief
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