If you go to https://www.beyondthediagnosis.org/ and click on their mission, you get the following:

“The Beyond the Diagnosis Art Exhibit’s focus is the rare disease patient. Artists have donated their time and talents to paint rare disease patients for this groundbreaking Exhibit. This beautiful Exhibit is traveling to medical schools, research institutes and hospitals around the globe encouraging the medical community to look “beyond the diagnosis” to the patient.”

I don’t know about you but, this came across to me as brilliant, beautiful and extremely kind hearted. After connecting with the founder Patricia Weltin (Patty <3), we quickly got on the same frequency, we are both a bit hyperactive when it comes to work, getting things done and keeping the ball going. We are teaming up to take advantage of the power of video as a tool for education, and to communicate to the upcoming generation the importance and relevance of rare diseases in our country and hopefully the world.

I have been discovering a whole new world, there are around 7,000 rare diseases, so how are they rare? Finding and developing a new treatment is usually a nightmare, and few people seem to pay the deserved attention to all of this.

I feel inspired and motivated by Patty and what Beyond the Diagnosis stands for. We will work closely to produce high-quality videos that inform, engage and get people to find out more.

If you think about it, we are all connected to a rare disease, it may be a relative, a friend or even ourselves. I have vitiligo, a skin condition that’s more on the aesthetic side of things, I’m one of the lucky ones that have lived with a condition that’s not painful or life-threatening. It’ll be an honor to put forward our talents as filmmakers to share the Beyond the Diagnosis’ message.

We are more than ready to put forward our talents as filmmakers to share the Beyond the Diagnosis’ stories. I’m excited about working with Patty and reaching as most people as possible!