"For patients with CIDP, access to treatment is vital to maintain physical autonomy. "
Jean-Philippe, living with CIDP
I am living with CIDP and am the founder of a French association for peripheral neuropathy.
In 1999, when my physician said to me "…you are suffering from CIDP - Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy," I was 30 years old and didn’t realize at that moment how deeply my life would change.
From the beginning I have been lucky. Thanks to rapid access to plasma protein therapies, I was able to recover quickly from most of the impairment caused by the disease. Over the years, immunoglobulins (IVIG) gave me a normal life and the opportunity to project myself into the future. Above all, these treatments gave me the willingness and strength to help other people suffering from inflammatory and dysimmune peripheral neuropathies – in France and across Europe – through the patient organization I founded.
For patients with CIDP, access to treatment is vital to maintain physical autonomy. It also makes it possible to have a normal life – from all social, professional, psycho-affective and family aspects. For some acute peripheral neuropathies, access to immunoglobulins is a question of life or death. The need for plasma is growing around the world, especially with the progress of medical care and diagnosis, global improvement of health systems, and the incidence of new rare inflammatory neuropathies cases every day. Because there are no other therapeutic options to treat these diseases, the community of plasma donors is becoming increasingly important.
It’s true that each one of us has plasma in us. But general recognition of plasma and its benefits is quite low. Very few people know about this life-saving body fluid and its uses, but they do know about blood donation – we need to close this gap. It needs to be better known that plasma contains proteins that save lives and that they help people, who are afflicted by chronic conditions, to remain in good form, to be independent, to go to work and lead an active family life.
So securing a community of donors and plasma donations is a global challenge. Donors can save lives; they can save many lives by donating plasma.