Op-Ed piece

I recently was assigned a final project in my Diversity and the Media class. The assignment is to research a under represented group. These groups can be anything from religious groups to cultures within the United States that I would like to know more about.

There are a bunch of different groups I was thinking about researching. I narrowed it down to two groups I would be interested in learned more about. One was the group of people who are living with Lupus; mostly because I recently found out I have Lupus.

Another group I am interesting in researching is wounded veterans. I picked this group for a couple different reasons. Right now my younger brother is in Afghanistan and will be coming home soon. I’m so happy for that! My brother is not hurt and hopefully he will stay safe between now and the time he comes home. I feel that since my brother is in the military I have a better understanding about seeing someone I love go off to war then someone who does not have know everyone in the military.

Other then my brother, there is someone else who is very special to me and is one of the reasons why I decided to research wounded veterans.


I met Bryan Anderson at a conference at the Hershey Lodge in April of 2009. Anderson joined the Army in 2001 and in October 2005 he was hurt in an explosion. He lost both of this legs and his left hand. He also endured about 40 different surgeries and 13 months in Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Bryan’s story was featured in his hometown newspaper and someone from Esquire Magazine noticed the article.

His story was featured in the January 2007 edition of Esquire Magazine he was even on the cover of the magazine. In the article Bryan explains his take on life after his accident:

“I'm not going to say your whole life is planned out for you, but I think there are certain things that are supposed to happen to you, and however you handle that defines you. So this happened to me.”

With this in mind and after spending time with Bryan, I have learned to deal with own diagnoses. When I am complaining about little things in life like being stuck in traffic I just think, “I could be sitting in traffic or laying in a hospital bed sick and hurting?” Then being stuck in traffic doesn’t seem so bad.

I think many people just need to stop and appreciate what they have. Everything can change so quickly.

So now I am volunteering for the Lupus Foundation of Pennsylvania. I love doing this because it’s a great way to meet new people and other Lupus patients. I am working on a communications plan and I am in the process of completing some promotional materials for the Lupus Gala in April.

Here are some important sites to me that I hope others will check out as well:

Lupus Foundation of America
Lupus Foundation of Pennsylvania
Pa Breast Cancer Coalition
Toms Shoes
Ten Thousand Villages