Every year, IC patients around the world gather to share their IC stories, educate others and speak out. With joy at meeting others and making new IC friends as well as anger for those who have been treated poorly, this is a powerful moment for the IC patient community and we invite you to participate. Here’s how you can participate in our 2021 IC Awareness Month activities!

1. Share Our Press Release  With Your Local Paper

Ask your local newspaper to do a story on IC and IC Awareness Month. This year, we’re introducing COVID Associated Cystitis which is triggering severe urinary symptoms in some patients, including IC’ers. We’ve prepared a simple, two page press release you can send to them as a PDF file or you could cut and paste it into an email, ideally with a paragraph about your own personal story. Newspapers love to discuss how lives have been changed, for better or for worse. You can use your own name or ask them to use a pseudonym. Download the official press release here!

2. Share Our Daily Fact Across Your Social Networking Feeds

We have prepared 30 daily facts that share different facets of life with IC. Please share these pages across your social networks so that we can reach others who are struggling and need help. Find them here! 

3. Use our official banners, timeline and profile images!

Share the campaign website (https://www.icawareness.org) Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram pages!

We also have Facebook Profile and Timeline pictures that you can use!

4. Share Our Posters!

One of the easiest things you can do is just put up our poster at your local church, coffee shop or, better yet, send it to all of your doctors and ask them to post it so that other patients can learn about IC. Print out and share any of our beautiful official posters.

5. Participate in our Poster Contest

The funnest part of our annual campaign is the annual poster contest where you can let your creativity shine or perhaps let a family member or child help the cause. Your choice of crayon, watercolor, acrylics or markers! You can also create posters on several websites, such as: canva.com! We simply ask that the poster be on an 8.5″ by 11″ piece of paper and say “IC Awareness Month” and “icawareness.org”. The winners will receive Amazon gift cards.

  • First Place $100 gift card
  • Second Place $50 gift card
  • Third Place $25 Amazon gift card.

Learn more here! Poster Contest

6. Participate in our Meme Contest

Have you ever wanted to just be a wee bit snarky about your IC? Well, the meme contest let’s you let it out and let it shine… snarky, angry, funny, bold.. meme’s make a statement. A funny or shocking meme can be shared thousands of times across the internet where they could inspire patients to actually google IC. Last year, we had dozens of funny, irreverent and powerful memes that truly made an impact. They were shared thousands of times across the internet and were a big part of our IC Awareness Month campaign.

Several websites offer free meme making services. You can pick your favorite picture, add text and then share it with your friends. Here are some services that we like!

Learn more here! 

7. Share Your Story

We welcome stories from the men, women and children who struggle with interstitial cystitis and bladder pain syndrome. We will be adding them to this website throughout the month. Please share your story so that other patients can learn from your experience and, hopefully, benefit from your advice.

The information you share may be released publicly but you can choose how you want to be identified. We can use your full name, your first name, your initials or mark the story as “anonymous” if you would prefer to remain private. Share Your Story Here!

8. Donate IC 101 To Your Local Library

If you tried to get information on IC and visited your local library, you probably found ZILCH! Yes, that’s right, most public libraries do not carry books on IC unless a patient or a support group donates one or two. So, think about making a gift of a book to a local library! We would love for you to share our newest book, IC 101: It’s Not Just A Bladder Disease! Click here for some book ideas!

9. Start A Support Group Near You!

Donate to a local support group that is serving IC patients – They can use stamps, cash or even book donations for low income patients. If there’s no group near you, please start one. Learn how in the ICN Support Group Resource Center.

10. Educate Others With Our Fact Sheets

The ICN has developed a new series of fact sheets! Share them with your family, friends and medical care providers here! Free downloads here!

11. Wear Your Pride

Wear your pride with our official IC Awareness Month pins, silicon bracelets and IC Awareness Month Car Magnets. Available in the ICN Shop

Awareness Bracelets
Car Magnets