Renal Support Network to Host Live Twitter Chat for World Kidney Day

March 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Patients with any chronic illness, their family members and caregivers are invited to share their experience, strength and hope with each other at a Twitter chat on World Kidney Day, Thursday, March 11, 2010, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. PST on Twitter.

Lori Hartwell, three-time kidney recipient and the author of "Chronically Happy: Joyful Living In Spite of Chronic Illness", will join volunteers from the non-profit Renal Support Network to answer questions about positively managing the course of chronic disease.  The risks of chronic kidney disease and ways to prevent it will also be discussed.  Hartwell is currently in renal failure and waiting for a transplant.  

"There are millions of other Americans riding the same physical and emotional roller coaster of chronic illness. We all share common threads of emotion: anger, guilt, fear of the unknown, depression, and the mind-boggling question, 'Why me?’” said Hartwell.  I want to help people face these feelings and abandon the crippling mental barriers that go hand-in-hand with chronic disease.”

Prizes will be awarded throughout the chat, including $25 Amazon gift certificates and copies of the new audio release of Hartwell’s “Chronically Happy.”  Anyone who follows @chronicallyhppy (no a) before the chat will automatically be entered to win a $100 Grand Prize Amazon gift certificate.

To participate, you must first have a Twitter account and follow @chronicallyhppy (no “a”). To follow the chat, log in to Twitter.com, Roomatic.com or Tweetchat.com using your Twitter log-in information, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. PST Thursday, March 11, and follow the hash tag #chronicallyhappy.

To submit specific questions for Ms. Hartwell, direct message them via Twitter to @chronicallyhppy (no “a”). Every effort will be made to answer all questions received before the end of the chat.

A transcript of the chat will be posted online at www.chronicallyhappy.com.

# # #

Renal Support Network (RSN) is a nonprofit, patient-focused, patient-run organization that helps people with chronic kidney disease become self-sufficient through education, advocacy, and employment. Since 1994, RSN has provided programs and services that help patients find resources and information; establish social networks; learn more about the management of their disease; and become more actively involved in their own care. www.rsnhope.org.