The Lymphedema Patient Roundtable: February 2022

Can you feel the love? Attendees at the February Lymphedema Patient Roundtable sure did! In honor of February being the month of love, a few of our panelists brought along their special someones to talk about relationships and lymphedema.

There wasn’t a dry eye onscreen as Kelly Bell’s wife, Jen, described how adrift they felt when looking for answers and how she strove to be his “safe harbor.” Alexa Ercolano and her twin sister, Breanna, shared the ways their experience growing up was affected by Alexa’s lymphedema, and Angela Jones and Angelique Charles expressed how their shared experience of living with lipolymphedema has made their friendship invaluable despite never having met in person (yet!).

What about when the only person you have is yourself? Amanda Sobey discussed what it was like to go through the bulk of her lymphedema journey alone as a single parent, and how she eventually forged her own support system through social media. Our medical professionals on the panel chimed in, too, about the importance of therapists having support as well.

It was a night of extreme vulnerability, resiliency, encouragement — and, most of all, of love.

A huge thank-you to our panelists and their guests:

• Karen Ashforth, MS, OTR/L, CLT-LANA (@karenashforth_cltlana), and her partner, David Best
• Cam Ayala, Lymphedema Patient (@CamronAyala)
• Kelly Bell, Lymphedema Patient and Advocate (@Veteran_Fighting_Lymphedema), and his wife, Jen Bell
• Alexa Ercolano, Lymphedema Patient (@lymphielife), and her sister, Breanna
• Angela Jones, Lipolymphedema Patient and Health Coach (@2018gethealthy), and her friend, Angelique Charles (@thelippybutterfly)
• Catherine Rosenberg, Lymphedema Patient (@crosenberg1982), and her friend, Amy Rivera (@ninjas_fighting_lymphedema)
• Amanda Sobey, Lymphedema Patient, Certified Personal Trainer and Nutritionist (@am.sobey)
• Nasreen Starner, CLT
• Betty Westbrook, CLT (@LymphedemaPodcast), and her friend, Brittany Williams (@brylansfeatfoundation)

Lympha Press is proud to offer these monthly Lymphedema Patient Roundtables and to be a support to the lymphedema community. The Roundtables are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 8:00 PM EST. Sign up to attend any of our live webinars at https://linktr.ee/LymphaPress.