Rare Men, Rare Wellness – David Hogan

How do you tell whether a zebra is male or female?The male doesn’t’ talk about their #raredisease.This can be hard on them. There have been very few places for them to gather to take care of their #mentalhealth. David Hogan set out to change this when the COVID pandemic threatened to isolate us all even more. David is affected by Cowden’s syndrome, and his mother had the condition as well. When she died, he felt the full weight of rare disease on his own mental wellbeing. He noticed that there were many places for women to gather, but it was not a great place for men to show their vulnerabilities. We needed something different. David took action and started inviting men in the rare disease community into conversation. Those conversations have now become the Men’s Rare Wellness Forum, a monthly opportunity for the male zebras to take care of themselves and each other. All men in the rare community – patients, Dads, brothers, caregivers, and providers – are invited. You can learn more about the Men’s Rare Wellness Forum by reaching out to David at [email protected] or searching “@mensrarediseasemh” on Instagram or David Hogan on LinkedIn