Sam Renke has been challenging misconceptions about disability since she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone condition, shortly after her birth. “...
Chronic Conditions
3rd December 2021
Sam Renke has been challenging misconceptions about disability since she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone condition, shortly after her birth. “I was born with multiple fractures and I actually fractured in ...
15th July 2021
Karen Hoyt had no idea that there was anything wrong with her liver when her feet started swelling one day while she was riding her bike. A high school teacher, adjunct professor and community volunteer with many active hobbies, Karen ...
7th July 2021
Khadija Stewart-Brown accepted daily insulin injections and finger-prick tests as part of normal life, but then she reached her teens. “I saw the difference between me and my peers and it got annoying,” she says. Khadija has always had to ...
18th June 2021
Kevin Wake’s mother taught him to become a Sickle Cell Disease expert from a young age. Today, the seasoned patient advocate shares his story with This Is MedTech to mark World Sickle Cell Day. “I was diagnosed when I ...
16th June 2021
“They knew I had thalassemia even before I was born, and they knew it was major,” says Amit Ghelani. But with an effective treatment plan, including regular blood transfusions and routine monitoring, Amit, now 35, lives what he happily describes as ...
17th May 2021
At 43, health researcher Nicola McMeekin was blissfully unaware of her hypertension until she had a life-threatening heart injury. “There was no warning. I was sitting at my desk writing an email when I suddenly had pains in my chest, down ...
15th April 2021
“Haemophilia shouldn’t limit what people do,” says Clive Smith, qualified barrister, prominent haemophilia patient advocate and keen sportsman. As if to reinforce his point, Clive has not only competed for Great Britain in the European duathlon championships but is ...
22nd January 2021
“With or without diabetes, there’s nothing you can’t be,” says German field hockey Olympic champion and orthopaedic surgeon Carsten Fischer. But there was a time when Carsten – nicknamed The Man With the Hammer for his ferocious penalty corners – ...
26th November 2020
Andy Braybrook’s life changed after a near-fatal accident left him permanently paralysed. Three years after his road collision, he is now back on the road and setting his sights even higher. Andy’s story started on the first fine ...
5th March 2020
Mike Rolls says his golf game is stronger as a bilateral amputee than it ever was when he had both his legs. The 37-year-old Australian has come a long way since a deadly infection called meningococcal septicaemia changed the trajectory ...
26th February 2020
Lara Chappell was in complete shock when her one-year-old son Pierre was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome. She’d been expressing concerns to multiple health professionals about her baby’s delayed development from the time he ...
28th January 2020
One phone call from her daughter’s school changed Csilla’s life forever. “The school said that my little girl was feeling ill, so I quickly finished a couple of things at work and rushed to the doctor with my ...
3rd December 2019
Ami Ireland thought her hearing difficulties were just the remnants of a cold. At the time, she didn’t know this was the first in a series of symptoms that would leave her with permanent disabilities and change her life ...
28th November 2019
On World AIDS Day, author and Emmy Award winning AIDS activist Rae Lewis-Thornton talks about her decades-long journey with the disease and how medtech innovations have supported her. “I believe I was infected with HIV in 1983,” says Rae. “In the ...
11th October 2019
On World Obesity Day, Stefanie Wirtz opens up about her personal struggle with obesity and the turning point that led her to undergo bariatric surgery. “I’ve lived with obesity since childhood, and like most of those affected, I’ve ...
18th September 2019
As we stride into September marking a new Sickle Cell Awareness Month, Jemela Williams discusses the disease she’s lived with her whole life and shares her hopes for a future world that better understands it. When Jemela was just ...
9th July 2019
After being hooked up to an antibiotics drip in hospital for three weeks, David John Watson had had enough. However, the life-threatening blood poisoning that he’d developed meant another few weeks of intravenous (IV) antibiotic treatment was necessary. It ...
10th May 2019
Kim Opszala thought her eczema had returned when a rash appeared on her face, but it was a disease called lupus. She’d been travelling around Australia before starting university in 2005/06 and upon her return Kim noticed the butterfly-shaped rash ...
5th April 2019
British author and disability advocate Alice Barker is keen to express her gratitude for the healthcare and medtech “that have enabled me to lead a rich and blessed life.” As someone who has relied heavily on specialised medical care and ...
28th February 2019
Gunnar Esiason just celebrated a major milestone: his good health. When you have cystic fibrosis (CF) – a rare genetic disease that creates a build-up of thick sticky mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs that can lead to ...