The Power of Human Resiliency in Living with Illness

TAMPA, Fla. - Oct. 29, 2014 - PRLog -- November 8^th will present a rare local opportunity to hear well-known international resiliency expert Cindy Coney as she takes to the stage with Dr. Mary Anne Dooley at the Lupus Foundation of America’s free Learning and Living™ educational event at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa.

Dr. Dooley, who is Associate Professor of Medicine at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy & Immunology, will present the latest medical and research information on lupus. Coney, a native of Tampa, has over three decades of professional and personal experience in resiliency and will present “Unsinkable Spirit: The Power of Human Resiliency.”

“Receiving the diagnosis of a chronic illness like lupus causes tremendous stress for those affected,” says Coney. “Resilience, which is essentially a measure of one’s ability to adapt successfully to stress, can be taught and enable patients to move more easily from their ‘old normal’ prior to diagnosis to a ‘new normal’ where life is still fulfilling, has purpose and meaning, and where hope is present in the face of illness.”

As a young woman, Coney herself was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease affecting an estimated 1.5 million Americans and 5 million people worldwide. Today, she travels extensively, speaking to patients, healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies in the United States and abroad. Through education, she empowers and inspires individuals with her message of hope and specific ways to build personal resiliency to help patients live fulfilling and meaningful lives.

Currently serving on the International Task Force to Define Remission in SLE and recently returned from the panel’s first meeting in Switzerland, Coney is past Chair of the Lupus Foundation of America’s National Board of Directors and widely recognized for her work in health education and specifically her pioneering work in resiliency. She has testified before the FDA Advisory Panel in support of the lupus drug Benlysta, and acts as a patient advisor to pharmaceutical companies and research groups. http://www.cindyconey.com.

For more information or to register online for this FREE Lupus: Learning and Living™ educational event, go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/lupus-living-and-learning-fre... or call  202.212.6762. Event to be held November 8th, 2014 | 9:30 am-12:00 pm at Hillsborough Community College, 4001 W. Tampa Bay Blvd. Presented by Lupus Foundation of America.