Since its inception, The Sumaira Foundation (TSF) has continuously emphasized the positive aspects of living with a rare disease such as NMO, always underscoring that, while the disease is a serious and challenging one, it does not define you as a person and can even open up new opportunities for patients and their loved ones.
This is why now, during European NMO Awareness Month, we invite you to share your creative expressions along with your stories capturing how you are still able to live a fulfilling and meaningful life with NMO. Most importantly, we want to show the world that our disease does not stop us from doing the things we love and are passionate about.
Submissions will be shared via a digital gallery on our website where visitors will be able to see your creativity first-hand. We also plan to share your stories and creations more broadly to create greater awareness of NMO and to underscore that our diagnosis does not define us!
We want to provide our patient communities with a space that elevates our voices and offers us a wider opportunity to express ourselves. Selected submissions will also be featured in a larger celebratory event later in the year, tailored to and organized around the submissions we would like to highlight. We will add our own creative ideas to bring the event to life!
IMAGINE MY LIFE WITH NMO is The Sumaira Foundation’s first European-wide awareness campaign aimed at supporting the NMO community. Its intention is to establish March as NMO Awareness Month globally.
As part of our campaign, we are encouraging NMO patients and their loved ones to submit creative expressions of all types, to highlight how they have reimagined their lives with NMO. We welcome any sort of artistic output: photos, drawings, paintings, songs, poems, writings, sculptures, TikTok videos, Instagram stories, etc. They can be new, recently created, or simply something you have done in the past that you want to share. Show us how NMO hasn’t stopped YOU from doing what you LOVE!
We plan to share your stories and creations more broadly to create greater awareness of NMO and to underscore that our diagnosis does not define us. Click here for more information about the campaign and details on how to submit your work.
Create something new, or choose something you have already created, that most resonates with you and your life. It should reflect you in the way you like, not necessarily anything specific to NMO or living with a rare disease. For example, you might already be a TikTok aficionado or a secret origami enthusiast. Or you might want to try something new – the choice is yours! We welcome any form of creative expression such as paintings, sculptures, drawings, animation, songs, dance, instrumental performances, origami, poetry, written works, articles, books, photography, videography, journalism, pottery, monologues, stand-up comedy, TikTok videos, Instagram stories, etc. We invite any and all forms of creativity!
Share it with us! Please complete the submission form to TSF so we can properly describe and credit your work. We have also included a few extra questions as we never want to miss an opportunity to learn more about our community. Share as much as you like, this is about YOU! Please email with any questions regarding your submission.
We will send you a confirmation email once we have received and reviewed your submission and to let you know if and when your work is shared via TSF’s digital gallery.
Imagine My Life With NMO aims to bring our patient/caregiver community together to raise awareness of NMO across Europe and build momentum for designating March as the official month for NMO awareness in Europe, both at the country level and continent-wide.
Since 2016, March has been recognized as NMO Awareness Month in the US and elsewhere. It is TSF’s goal to establish official recognition of NMO Awareness Month around the world. For 2022, TSF aims to organize our campaign around the positive themes of creativity and expression highlighting the lived experiences of our patient/caregiver community in Europe.
Through this campaign, TSF aspires to expand its reach, platforms, communities and programs throughout Europe to support NMOSD/MOG-AD communities broadly defined, including patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers and advocates.
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