Every Patient's
AdvocateTM
has one important purpose: to help
patients
learn everything they can about advocating
for good health and medical care for
themselves or their loved ones.
This information
is presented for
patients, by a former patient, from a
patient's point of view.... to help patients become good healthcare
consumers by providing them with the tools they need to do so. As a
part of the
DiagKNOWsis family of websites,
Every Patient's Advocate provides
column
and podcasts which can be shared through
publication in consumer-read newspapers,
magazines, e-zines or through audio media.
Who is Trisha?
And why is she Every Patient's Advocate?
Trisha Torrey began her quest
to help others handle the debacle that has
become the American healthcare system after
being diagnosed with a very rare,
life-threatening cancer in 2004. She was
told two labs had independently confirmed
the diagnosis -- and she needed chemotherapy
immediately or she would die within months.
Just short of
starting chemotherapy, and to the great
consternation of her oncologist, she figured
out on her own that she had no cancer at
all. Her
misdiagnosis was later confirmed
by the National Institutes of Health.
The irony, of course,
is that had she undergone chemotherapy, she
would have been declared cured of an
incurable disease. The professionals
who had misdiagnosed her would have been
heroes for curing her of an incurable
disease. These many years
later, she has never had any form of
treatment.
It was a horrible,
frightening, expensive experience, and
Trisha decided she would do whatever she
could to make sure others would never suffer
the same way.
Since then, Trisha
founded DiagKNOWsis to empower
patients to advocate for themselves.
She built a website,
www.DiagKNOWsis.org. Further, she
writes
columns for
publication, hosts a
talk radio show called HealthLink on Air,
teaches workshops and
presents to large groups, is the internet
medical information research expert at
Allexperts.com.
In 2007, Trisha became the
About.com expert in patient empowerment
issues. In 2009, she launched
AdvoConnection, a
directory to help patients
find patient advocates.
Her
first book,
You Bet Your Life! The 10 Mistakes
Every Patient Makes (How to Fix Them to Get
the Healthcare You Deserve)
will be published in February 2010.
For
an expanded version of Trisha's misdiagnosis
story,
link here.
For a
brief bio and list of Every Patient's
Advocate activities,
link here.
To
learn how to invite Trisha
to speak to your group,
link here.
