Social Media Summit Scholarship Essay – Wendy Station

Thank you Wendy for everything you do to help encephalitis survivors, and their caregivers and friends. I hope you win this scholarship, and that what you learn from the social media workshop will help you with your work. Together we're better!

Very interesting post. I hope we both win scholarships to the Mayo Social Media Summit so we can meet! I am also trying to friend you on this site and can't see where?

Wendy, via the E-Site she helped create has helped families all over the world. The aftermath of Encephalitis effects the family and friends of the suffers just as severely as it does the patients. We all need answers, encouragement, and empathy..

Encephalitis has many causes and is VERY often misdiagnosed as our members can attest to. Please get Wendy to this summit.

Infectious disease is truly one of the frontiers where social media can make a difference, particularly in communities across the globe as they bridge the digital divide. Ms. Station's work on encephalitis has shown the tremendous value and "reach" of an online community. The link to National Organization for Rare Disorders is also very valuable, as patients with such disorders struggle to learn about and understand unusual (and sometimes misdiagnosed) infectious diseases that can be debilitating or even fatal. I support and vote for Ms. Station's participation in the upcoming social media conference. The type of work she is doing has tremendous potential for Americans but also the less fortunate all over the world.

Great essay which gave me more insight into this tragic disease. My sister was recently diagnosed with it and speaks highly of your work. Good Jefferson quote at the end of your essay!

Before I found the Encephalitis Inspire forum, I felt so alone with my lingering symptoms. My family and friends dismissed my issues without knowing it. But with this wonderful group that Wendy inspired, we are an anonymous — and sometimes known — family of survivors who provide encouragement, perseverance pointers and corrective courses where it otherwise seems no man has gone. From my experience and research, it appears this is an overlooked illness. Thank goodness for people like Wendy who are calling attention to this horrible affliction that we stumbled into with no directions to get us out of it.

Wendy was handed lemons and made lemonade. She has created a support group based on her own needs that many of us have come to depend on for hints, answers, support, encouragement and empathy.

Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. ~Aldous Leonard Huxley, Texts and Pretexts, 1932

She has much to offer to the summit. Please support her efforts to attend and award the scholarship.

Our E community has already learned the immeasurable value of Social Media in dealing with the aftermath of a rare and serious illness. Wendy and a handful of others on there own, pioneered the use of social media to create a support system. Wendy did not stop there. She personally monitors the site, reminding posters of the role of the site, that we are not professionals but have shared experiences. she and Ingrid have quelled the occasional hot tempers, sees that answers do no harm, and keeps the site troll free, Wendy has as much information to contribute to the summit as she will receive. She has been a leader in the use of Social Media. Please accept her application.

Wendy Station has been a champion for those of us who have suffered with encephalitis. There is very little information offered to those who survive. The ignorance in the medical community is amazing. Wendy wants to help save lives and prevent suffering for both potential victims and their families. And she is doing a great job! The Mayo Summit will only help her do more good. I hope she is given the chance.

My cousin has been suffering the after-effects of Encephalitis and she is unable to find answers from doctors because no one seems to be an expert in this field.
She has been able to find comfort, answers and a community of people through the Encephalitis Global support group. She talks so well of the group and the co-founders, Wendy and Ingrid. I know that she wouldn't be where she is today without the help of that group.

Wendy founded and represents at least 1,234 survivors of acquired brain injury from illnesses, as well as their caregivers. We are a community that is woefully underrepresented in the fields of medical recognition and treatment, as well as rehabilitation resourcess. Awareness and resources are needed.

Please bring Wendy to the Summit.
My mom would not have had enough self confidence and positive reinforcement if it weren't for Wendy's hard work in starting and monitoring the Encephalitis website. Doctors were pessimistic about her recovery. She learned from other survivors to NEVER GIVE UP! We as her family learned that patience is a virtue and love conquers fear Thanks to Wendy and Ingrid she enjoys a full productive and adventurousness life.

Come on Mayo where else can you get so much bang for the buck?????

The 1200+ current members and families and countless future members of Encephalitis Global Support Community Wendy pioneered will benefit from the networking, exposure, information, and shared experiences Wendy and a companion can garner from the Mayo Summit. She will serve as the voice, ears, and heart of those of us who have been touched by Encephalitis. Her role has been heroic and tireless. She and a handful of others developed a venue for Social Media assistance for Encephalitis victims when there were no answers to be found. from doctors. I start my day by opening the site and reading the latest posts. Asking questions when I need answers. Looking for encouragement when needed and offering it whenever I can.

This is a vote from a survivor of Eastern Equine E in 2003 who without the website and accompanying hints, referrals, sympathy, empathy encouragement, validation, and camaraderie would not have been able to function post E as well as I do. And at no cost!!!

PLEASE Bring our girls down there !

I am adding my voice and to support Wendy's request for a chance to attend this conference. She has spearheaded a forum that has been a life and sanity saver for so many of us as we walk through the after effects of encephalitis. She reaches so many people through the use of Social Media and the Encephalitis Global site. The opportunity to attend the conference would serve to strengthen her knowledge and skills in this venue.

What an amazing journey this has been, watching Wendy recover, then taking it upon herself to educate herself on encephalitis. A decade ago there was nowhere for us to go for information. Now patients and caregivers can reach out to Encphalitis Global and get the help they need so badly. Wendy works tirelessly, calming peoples fears seven days a week when needed. She has earned her wings here on earth and has only just begun . We, her parents are so proud.

My son survived Herpes Encephalitis in 1994 at the age of 17 months. He has made lots of progress with the help and support of Wendy and Encephalitis Global. Wendy reached out six years after my son had E. I didn't realize that there were other survivors as I had been told this is a rare illness and very few survive. God is Good! Wendy and Encephalitis Global have opened many doors for us with regard to therapy, life goals, and friendship. Wendy is a wonderful teacher and mentor to all who survive E. Thank you Wendy for the knowledge we have gained thru this wonderful organization,.

Wendy has done an amazing job at pulling together a forum where survivors and care givers can share and learn and support. I don't know what my husband and I would have done without the support we have received here. Wendy has helped create a "place" like no other to share and feel safe and be understood. Should she be awarded the scholarship to the Mayo Social Media Summit she would come home with new ideas and ways to enhance the "connecting" that she was been working at all these years. I vote for Wendy!

Wendy, you are an inspiration to all of us.
When you got sick it was devastating and your recovery was long and most of your recovry was done by helping others.
Wendy realized there was not alot of support for others so got on the computer and started Encephalitis Globel for families and other victims of this illness.

I watched her work grow and grow and realized that no matter when I sign on (night or day) Wendy was answering or asking questions. I believe that Wendy as a giving person and the support she and encephalitis global has done for others is well deserving of this scholorship.
Love you and very proud of everything you have done and become.
your cousin Bev

Wendy is the best and she deserves to win. Do what I did and forward this to everyone in your address book, explain why and ask them to vote for her!

"Wendy is our encephalitis spokesperson please open the door for her"

Wendy has tirelessly worked to help create and maintain accessible lines of communication between those of us who have been effected by Encephalitis and the medical community , news media, and most importantly each other. Medical science has lots to learn from our shared experiences and adaptive and self-rehabilitation methods. Wendy has opened a door into the post-E world. I hope you open the door for her for the benefit of all of us.

Wendy's brainchild - Encephalitis Global - has been a lighthouse in the storm for me as I struggle with SREAT (Steroid Responsive Encephalopathy Associated with Thyroiditis). I can't bear to think how I would cope with my situation without the support of the Encephalitis Global community, where I find support, encouragement, links to information, and perhaps most importantly, a place where I can connect with people who understand the far-reaching impacts of encephalitis/encephalopathy, and who stand ready to reach out with a helping hand to those who struggle with these diseases, whether patients or caregivers. I hope Mayo will recognize Wendy's ongoing work to further a greater understanding of encephalitis in the larger community, as well as her work to alleviate the suffering of patients and caregivers, by awarding her a scholarship to attend the social media summit.

I am hoping that Wendy gets enough votes to attend. She has done so much to raise awareness of all types of encephalitis and she an my wife are officers of Encephalitis Glboal, Inc. More doctors need to be aware of the early symptoms of this illness so the patients can be diagnosed faster and help to avoid a lot of the permanent residuals. Go Wendy Go!!!

Wendy works tirelessly, as she has for 10+ years, to help those impacted by encephalitis. She has helped create and maintain a community of understanding, support and encouragement for those who are fortunate enough to survive… helping the ignorant find answers and the faint-hearted find hope and hold their heads high. Through her work, many have been brought out of isolation into a virtual community of others who understand encephalitis and its aftermath. Wendy's work would only be enhanced should she be given the opportunity to attend Mayo's Social Media Summit in October. I vote that she be given that opportunity! :)

Wendy's true selflessness to help other survivors and their families through the havoc that Encephalitis causes when touched their lives is boundless. Not only did Wendy find the inner strength to pull herself through the physical and mental turmoil Encephalitis caused, Wendy has devoted herself completely to other patients world wide and is the voice for those who cannot be heard. Wendy has my vote to attend the Social Media Summit and she will always have my love, admiration and respect. How blessed I am to still have my big sister and how proud I am of all the hope and support she continues to give to others every day.

I am hoping that Wendy gets to attend this conference. Wendy does so much research for Encephalitis Global and reaches out to help survivors and caregivers. When someone has a question she will search the internet for answers. She and I have been trying to raise awareness within the medical community for over 10 years and I am hoping that by her being able to attend this conference, her voice will finally be heard. Thank you all in advance. Ingrid R. Guerci, Tarrytown, NY, HSE 12/95 (I was 45 years old)

Who can so softly bind up the wound? Wendy Station. Her outstanding, selfless work in running Encephalitis Global, along with Ingrid Guerci, has provided an incomparable community in which those of us affected by encephalitis can interact with one another. Not only is Wendy a patient-advocate, she has helped many of us become our own advocates. We are truly more empowered by her work.

This is a woman with both the determination to rise up from this illness and the vision to lift others others along the way. She has given patients and their families worldwide somewhere to go to seek information and support and a place to share their stories and successes. The world needs more Wendy's.

I write this reply with tears of pride in my eyes for you! You have come so far and with such a selfless heart that is focusing on how you can help others. You are truly an amazing and inspiring woman. I hope you get the opportunity to attend the conference.