May 6 is Wishbone Day!

Top 10 Myths About Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Top 10 Myths About OI - 2016 (taken from an OI parent)

10) They don't have blue sclerae so it's not OI. (White, gray, gray-blue, or blue)

9) Kids with OI will "grow out of it". (Genetics)

8) OI is contagious. (Genetics, not infectious)

7) You think you can control a child's innate/biological instinct to move, crawl, stand, climb, explore. (You can't. Safe environment)

6) Every person with OI is affected the same way and presents the same way clinically, so should be treated the same way (spectrum condition, unique genetic information for each individual, individualized context based clinical care plans)

5) Toddlers are too young to have rodding surgeries (Fassier-Duval Rods - pulling to stand, weight bearing child)

4) Infants are too young to be started on medical therapies like IV Pamidronate. (Montreal Shriners - Glorieux, Plotkin, Rauch studies of late 90s/early 2000s)

3) The increased ambulation, activity levels, reduced pain levels, improved quality of life in children over the last 20 years are due to "nutrition". (See 4 & 5)

2) Infants, toddlers, children, adolescents, adults do not feel pain with fractures the older they get and more they have them. (Pain is real and affects recovery and long term outcomes)

1) Drinking more milk will cure OI. (Really?!)

Happy Wishbone Day!

My first Wishbone Day

Today, May 6, is Wishbone Day. Wishbone Day is a relatively new occasion to spread awareness of osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bones. I am part of that rare breed of people who lives with this condition.

Wishbone Day involves wearing yellow and hanging out (if possible) with other people with OI. This past Saturday (May 4) I took part in my first Wishbone Day picnic and walk event. It was a fun day, and it was good to meet with other people with OI and their families (and, in some cases, their spouses).

The Wishbone Day concept developed of the Australian OI Conference in 2008. The first international Wishbone Day was observed in 2010, and it came to Canada in 2012.

Last July I met with some OI folk from Australia during the American OI Foundation conference held near Washington, DC. I even got to pose with Wishy, the Wishbone Day mascot.

I'm glad this awareness day exists since OI continues to be a condition that is often misunderstood or misinterpreted, even amongst medical professionals.

The Wishbone Day picnic took place in Cobourg, a town east of Toronto.

Season's Greetings from me and Wishy

Wishbone Day coming May 6