Awareness: Learning to Listen

In honor of CLOVES Syndrome Awareness Day, I came out of my blogging hiatus just to share why this day means so much to me. In this vlog, I’m sharing with you why awareness matters. For me, increasing awareness is not really aimed at helping others learn all of the symptoms/signs embedded in the CLOVES acronym. It’s not really about making others aware that our little community exists. Rather, it’s about helping others learn how we can all take part in promoting the flourishing of CLOVES patients. Though there are countless ways that we can all turn our awareness into action, I’m quite convinced that it starts with listening — listening to the stories of what patients have endured, listening to patients and parents recount the ways in which they’ve been burdened by suboptimal patient care, listening when they describe their hardship and hope and everything in between. Awareness starts with listening.