2011 Giving Tree

Our 6th annual Holiday Giving Tree has been planted and is ready to be decorated with your generous donations.

The APSFA Holiday Giving Tree is our largest fundraiser of the year and also wraps up the holiday giving season as well as the end of the year donations.

All you have to do is choose an ornament that corresponds with the amount you wish to donate and that ornament will then be added to our tree. By the end of the fundraiser our holiday tree is beautifully decorated with the kindness of your donations!

Click here: http://www.apsfa.org/givingtree.htm to visit our 2011 Holiday Giving Tree page.

The Fall / Winter 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??"

The Fall / Winter 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??" is ready to be downloaded. You can download it at the following link: http://www.apsfa.org/docs/APSFAVol23FallWin2011.pdf

The next volume will be coming out mid March 2012.

Summer / Fall 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??"

The Summer / Fall 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??" is ready to be downloaded. You can download it at the following link: http://www.apsfa.org/docs/APSFAVol22SumFall2011.pdf

The next volume will be coming out mid November 2011.

Please let us know if there are any topics that you'd like our Medical Advisers to cover in their articles. We try to request topics that people are emailing about or that are discussed on our the forum. So if there's anything you'd like to see, please let us know and we'll pass it along to the medical advisers.

We are still in need of patient stories (esp about Men and Teens / Children), recipes, poems, related book reviews, and anything else you think would be of interest for upcoming newsletters. (book reviews, poems, recipes, articles written by family members, etc.) Please submit articles to the following email address: articles@apsfa.org.

Please follow our current guidelines when submitting an article:
· Send your story/article to articles@apsfa.org
· Patient stories and most articles should be approx 500-750 words long and contain a title
· Articles should be written at a 5th-8th grade reading level
· Please try to include a picture when submitting a patient story
· Patient stories should read like an autobiography-generally from diagnosis to present time, but it doesn't have to

Please use previous patients stories as your guideline. They can be found here: http://www.apsfa.org/newsletters.html

If you have an idea and are not sure if it would fit, please feel free to contact us through our contact page on the website, or email us using the email address below. We are open to any suggestions. Without your help we would not be able to include an APS patient's story in each of our newsletters.

We could also use articles written by medical professionals or medical students on APS & APS related topics, like Lupus. Please contact us if you are interested. This is a good opportunity for you to get your name out there.

Please remember to check our website for any changes at the following link: http://www.apsfa.org/new.htm

Keywords: APSFA, APS Foundation, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, lupus, stroke, dvt, pe, thrombosis, clot, migraine, hughes syndrome, miscarriage, america, usa, anticoagulant, heart attack, APS, american, association, newsletter

The Spring / Summer 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??"

The Spring / Summer 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??" is ready to be downloaded. You can download it at the following link: http://www.apsfa.org/docs/APSFAVol21SprSum11.pdf

Keywords: APSFA, APS Foundation, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, lupus, stroke, dvt, pe, thrombosis, clot, migraine, hughes syndrome, miscarriage, america, usa, anticoagulant, heart attack, APS, american, association, newsletter

JUNE IS APS AWARENESS MONTH: SILENT BUT DEADLY!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: 05/29/2011

Contact: Christina "Tina" Pohlman

Phone: 608-782-2626

Website Address: www.apsfa.org

Email Address: apsfa@apsfa.org

JUNE IS APS AWARENESS MONTH: SILENT BUT DEADLY!

The Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS) Foundation of America, Inc. (APSFA) urges the public, as well as the medical community, to learn more about this rare disease. APS Awareness Month runs throughout June.

APS is an autoimmune disorder. Such illnesses occur when the body’s tissues are attacked by its own substances. In APS, the body recognizes certain components of blood or cell membranes as foreign substances and produces antibodies--a specialized protein the body uses to prevent infection--against them. It is the major cause of strokes in persons under 40 years old, blood clots (thrombosis) – which can lead to heart attack or stroke – vision disturbances and repeated, otherwise unexplainable miscarriages.

APS often is found in conjunction with lupus, another autoimmune disorder that primarily targets women.

Knowing more about APS can make all the difference. APS: Know the Symptoms of the Syndrome.

Founded in 2005, the APSFA is the leading United States health agency dedicated specifically to bringing national awareness to APS. We are a volunteer-run, community-based, non-profit organization.

For more information Contact: Christina "Tina" Pohlman at Phone: 608-782-2626

Website Address: www.apsfa.org. Email Address: apsfa@apsfa.org

###

NOTES TO EDITORS

• The key blood tests are Anticardiolipin (aCL) antibodies (IgG, IgM, and IgA), Lupus anticoagulant (LAC) – a panel of blood clotting tests that may include the dilute Russel Viper venom time (dRVVT), lupus aPTT, mixing studies, and hex phase phospholipid test, platelet neutralization procedure and Antibodies to b2-glycoprotein I (IgG, IgM, IgA).

• The conservative estimate of people at risk from Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS) is 1% - 5% of the population.

• In pregnancy clotting of the placenta can cause miscarriage or stillbirth. Typically, women are not tested for APS until after three consecutive miscarriages.

• The recognition and treatment of APS improves the chances of preventing miscarriage from below 20% to above 80%.

• Some cases are misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis. Some APS patients also have Lupus.

• Founded in 2005, the APS Foundation of America, Inc. is the leading United States nonprofit health agency dedicated to bringing national awareness to Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS), the major cause of multiple miscarriages, thrombosis, young strokes and heart attacks. We are a volunteer run, community based 501(c)3 non-profit Public Charity organization and is dedicated to fostering and facilitating joint efforts in the areas of education, support, public awareness, research and patient services. Our URL is http://www.apsfa.org

• All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from http://www.apsfa.org.

Keywords: APSFA, APS Foundation, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, lupus, stroke, dvt, pe, thrombosis, clot, migraine, hughes syndrome, miscarriage, america, usa, anticoagulant, heart attack, APS, american, association, press release, 2011

Winter / Spring 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??"

The Winter / Spring 2011 volume of our quarterly newsletter, "Antiphospho...What??" is ready to be downloaded. You can download it at the following link: http://www.apsfa.org/docs/APSFAVol20WinSpr11.pdf

The next volume will be coming out late May 2011.

Please let us know if there are any topics that you'd like our Medical Advisers to cover in their articles. We try to request topics that people are emailing about or that are discussed on our the forum. So if there's anything you'd like to see, please let us know and we'll pass it along to the medical advisers.

We are still in need of patient stories (esp about Men and Teens / Children), recipes, poems, related book reviews, and anything else you think would be of interest for upcoming newsletters. (book reviews, poems, recipes, articles written by family members, etc.) Please submit articles to the following email address: articles@apsfa.org.

Please follow our current guidelines when submitting an article:
• Send your story/article to articles@apsfa.org
• Patient stories and most articles should be approx 500-750 words long and contain a title
• Articles should be written at a 5th-8th grade reading level
• Please try to include a picture when submitting a patient story
• Patient stories should read like an autobiography—generally from diagnosis to present time, but it doesn’t have to

Please use previous patients stories as your guideline. They can be found here: http://www.apsfa.org/newsletters.html

If you have an idea and are not sure if it would fit, please feel free to contact us through our contact page on the website, or email us using the email address below. We are open to any suggestions. Without your help we would not be able to include an APS patient's story in each of our newsletters.

We could also use articles written by medical professionals or medical students on APS & APS related topics, like Lupus. Please contact us if you are interested. This is a good opportunity for you to get your name out there.

Please remember to check our website for any changes at the following link: http://www.apsfa.org/new.htm

Keywords: APSFA, APS Foundation, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, lupus, stroke, dvt, pe, thrombosis, clot, migraine, hughes syndrome, miscarriage, america, usa, anticoagulant, heart attack, APS, american, association, newsletter