The Run for Resilience Ostomy 5k is back to celebrate Ostomy Awareness Day this October! Join us for the Worldwide Virtual Ostomy 5k you can do anywhere or attend a festive in-person event near you! Start a team and fundraiser with family, friends, support groups or coworkers! These events are a key fundraiser to support the programs and services of United Ostomy Associations of America, Inc. Raise ostomy awareness with us!

Get his year’s RFR 5k and Ostomy Awareness Day T-shirt with our new theme: One Community – Stronger Together. Register for the Virtual Ostomy 5k or in-person events nationwide  by the deadline of September 4, 2026 to guarantee your size/availability.

You can also support the cause with a donation.

Make your state part of the movement this October by asking your governor to issue a state proclamation or letter of support for Ostomy Awareness Day on Saturday, October 3, 2026! Learn more on how to take action! Every state has a different process. Our toolkit explains the steps to obtain a proclamation with links for each state’s guidelines, provides a sample proclamation and more. Download the toolkit. If you just need the sample proclamation, download a template in Word or PDF format.

Please let us know if you submit a request with your governor at advocacy@ostomy.org and we will change your state’s status on the map.

You’re not alone! Peer support is often critical to success in life with an ostomy. You can find community at a UOAA Affiliated Support Group near you. Search the Support Group Finder!

Find an Ostomy Friend or Be an Ostomy Friend. If you want to be that support person that you never had, you can take UOAA’s Ostomy Friend Online Training program to become a friend in the Team Hope program. Learn more and find a friend!

As a National Individual of Medical Professional Member of UOAA, you are helping us to achieve our goals to support, educate, empower and advocate for people who have or will have ostomy or continent diversion surgery. By joining UOAA, you will also help increase the influence and voice the ostomy community has on a national level.

Discover the Benefits and Join

Spread ostomy awareness and connect people in your community to ostomy support groups and information.

Reach out to your local newspaper, TV, radio station or website and share your story and the resources of ostomy.org. You’ll be amazed by the power of your story!

You could also work behind the scenes by sharing our Ostomy Awareness PSA videos with your local TV outlets. Contact ed.pfueller@ostomy.org for a video file with the specs that your station asks for and if need any other media outreach tips. 

UOAA efforts to raise awareness wouldn’t be possible without the inspiration and generosity of the ostomy community. Choose ‘Ostomy Awareness Fund’ to direct your contribution to our mission. Your dollars help get our New Ostomy Patient Guide into the hands of those who need it the most and to spread ostomy awareness to new sectors of the medical field and society at large. Your donation also supports annual events such as Ostomy Awareness Day. https://www.ostomy.org/donate/

PDF File:  OAD-Infographic-2024-NO-OAD

You could even print out our friendly Sailor_Ostomy Pouch and name it after your own stoma, and take photos with it around town Flat Stanley style.