Released on: August 11, 2008, 4:19 am

Press Release Author: National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week

Industry: Healthcare

Press Release Summary: Nearly 1 in 2 Americans live with chronic illness and about
96% of it invisible. Invisible Illness Awareness Week seeks to educate and encourage
those who live with illness and those who care about them.

Press Release Body: The 2008 National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week,
September 8-14, 2008, has announced this year\'s theme: \"Hope Can Grow From the Soil
of Illness.\"

Lisa Copen, the founder of Rest Ministries, who sponsors this annual event says,
\"Illness is usually accompanied by a period of grief because so many dreams and
hopes can die when we lose our health. But there is also hope for a new purpose,
most often, one that we never would have imagined if we had our health.\"

The next month will feature bloggers on the topic of illness, all of who have found
a renewed sense of direction, despite the life-altering changes illness has brought
into their lives.

Copen, 39, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia at the age of 24
and clearly remembers wondering what her new purpose would be that would get her up
on the mornings she could barely move.

\"I had always planned to work for a nonprofit doing something to help others, but I
never felt I was efficient or empathetic enough because I had not walked in the
shoes of those I served. Now, through my illness ministry and books on aspects of
coping with illness, I have the chance to use what I experience each day to reach
out to others. It\'s my hope that they will also find hope despite their illness, as
they discover that new sense of purpose in the pain.\"

To learn more about the telephone seminars to be held September 8-12, the invisible
illness week awareness outreach products and how to get involved, visit
www.invisibleillness.com .


Web Site: http://www.invisibleillness.com

Contact Details: Sponsored by Rest Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 502928, San Diego, CA 92150
858-486-4685
email: lisa@invisibleillness.com