You’ve Got Mail: Send a Loved One a Free Virtual Holiday Postcard This Season
For the last three years, CreakyJoints and the Global Healthy Living Foundation provided our community with a special and free opportunity to send a message of thanks, appreciation or inspiration to a fellow person living with a chronic disease or to a caregiver, friend, family member, health care provider, or other special person in your life who has helped you throughout the last year.
This year was anything but normal, but what has remained consistent is the support we give each other through our digital communities. This digital post card is 100 percent free and highlights two amazing artists that live with chronic disease.
Why Provide This Free Service?
We know that the demands of the holiday season can be particularly hard for people with chronic disease. We know that that the holidays may still look different this year for you and we hope sending a digital postcard adds a bit of comfort during this time to let you know you’re not alone.
We hope this program will find a simple way for you to let others in your life know that you are thinking of them and are grateful for them during this reflective time of year.
About the Artists
Sal Marx
Sal Marx is a multimedia artist who lives with Ankylosing Spondylitis. They use art as a catalyst for witnessing chronic pain and centering patient voices. They are based in Seattle, WA and can be reached at salmarx.myportfolio.com or @SalMarx11
Rest Your Aching Bones
This postcard is a call for rest, however that looks to your unique body/mind. We wish you time to slow down at home, full of warmth and gentleness this winter season.
Fire Place
Chronic illness can burn inside us like dancing flames on a stormy night. The Gingerbread Man urges you to raise a glass to a New Year filled with gratitude for the resilience in your body and mind.
Jennifer Walker
Jennifer Walker is a patient who creates art to express their chronic illness life and mental health struggles. You can follow them on Instagram/Facebook as @UnexpectedAdvocate and on Twitter as @UnxpctdAdvocate. You can find their artwork at jwalkerart.com and is for sale on Etsy under the shop name of JWalkerart.
Open Arms
Emperor penguins are the most photographed penguins alive. They live in Antarctica. The males incubate and hatch the eggs while the females go hunt. The females can be gone for weeks at a time. They do this even after the babies are born – males are responsible for most of the hatchling’s care. If a partner does not come back from a hunt then the care of the hatchling is handled by the remaining partner and other members of the rookery. The entire rookery provides support and care beyond the smaller family units, which includes gay penguins as well.
Almost Home
Gentoos give their desired mate a pebble during mating season. If it’s accepted then it is picked up and used to build a nest. The famous gay Gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic do this every year like the rest of their rookery, despite the fact that penguins mate for life. The Gentoo is the fastest penguin and bird there is under water – swimming as fast as 25mph. They jump, reaching greater heights coming out of the water, and prefer dry rocky islands to snowy ones.
The Details:
This is a patient-centered and patient-designed digital postcard program aimed to reduce the loneliness and isolation that many people with chronic disease feel and to show appreciation for those that make a difference in their lives. This program highlights artwork from two people living with chronic diseases. You can learn about their work and where to find them below.
Send Your Postcard. Here’s What You Need to Do:
Those who participate in the program will receive/send a digital postcard. To participate, please provide your information before December 22, 2022 and we will email a digital postcard to the person of your choice.
The postcard sent will be one of the four designs featured below.