Fibro Cruise
Julie-Anne Braun, an award-winning author and professional speaker, has written a short introduction to Fibro Cruise which we are sharing with you as a guest post.
She writes “It began with a much smaller event we call “East Meets West.” (Started by my Fibro Cruise partner, Sandy Larson.) EMW is an annual gathering where a number of us, who met in Facebook fibro groups, get together in a cabin for 4-5 days.
In 2011, I was “sponsored” to attend. (Someone paid my way, but I can’t say who – I have my suspicions, but am not positive.) I was very nervous, as I had never met any of these people in person. Once I met everyone, and settled in, the weekend was truly life changing for me! I realized just how often, and how much, I tried to hide my pain, or make excuses for it. Suddenly, I didn’t have to do that. If I needed to go lay down, nobody questioned it. They understood. When I was in a terrible flare on the third day, my roommates brought my breakfast upstairs for me. We laughed, we cried, we shared the things we hated about fibro and the things we were grateful for. I made friends that weekend that I now call my sisters.
After attending my second East Meets West in 2012, I was determined to find a way for more people to share this experience. Since it’s not easy to find a cabin for more than 20 people at one time, I considered cruising. I have always loved cruising, and worked in the travel industry before fibro. I reached out to Sandy and a couple of other women, and asked if they would join me in developing Fibro Cruise.
We had our first Fibro Cruise in March of this year. While it was small, it was also spectacular. Everyone in the group had a fabulous time, and plans to attend again. We had to cancel plans for Fibro Cruise 2016 due to some admin conflicts, not enough bookings, and it being too close to the last one for some. As we started planning for 2017, a friend of mine with M.S. asked if she could join us. I have a number of friends with M.S., and thought it would be a good fit to invite the M.S. community to join us.
That’s where we are to this point. We leave for the fifth annual EMW this Wednesday. I am looking forward to it, and will be recording my experience from there.
P.S. It’s worth noting that we DO hope to offer sponsorships for Fibro Cruise in the future. We have our articles of incorporation, and are trying to raise the money to file for 501c3 status so that we may seek donations. ”
To find out more please check out their web site here.