Awareness Activation: #GreenLightsForMYOTONIC

15th September 2024

What’s happening?

Various landmarks across Western Australia are being illuminated green in celebration of Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day. To (literally) shine a light on and raise awareness of the condition, over 30 locations around WA will be lit up green .

Why September 15?

It’s Myotonic Dystrophy (DM) Awareness Day. Sometimes called Steinert’s Disease, it is the most common form of adult MD, causing muscle weakness and myotonia (difficulty relaxing a tightened muscle) and affects many organs including the heart, uterus, stomach, brain and colon.

The symptoms of DM may appear at any age, from birth to late adulthood and can affect anyone. There are 2 different types - DM1 or type 1 and the rarer DM2 or type 2. Both are genetic conditions but affect different genes.

Some babies are born with a severe form of the condition called congenital myotonic dystrophy.

Find out more about myotonic dystrophy here.

How can you PARTICIPATE?

  1. Join in the fun by snapping a spectacular pic of one of the landmarks lit up!

  2. Upload it to Facebook or Instagram, using the hashtag #GreenLightsForMyotonic and tagging @NeuromuscularWA

    (Sharing photos is a great way for us to reach the wider public, policymakers, researchers and health care professionals, helping us to raise awareness of the condition and create change).

LIT-UP LANDMARKS

 

*Lit up for International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day and World Lymphoma Day

^ Lit up on the 14th of September as well