Awareness Saves Lives: Celebrating Ostomy Awareness Day

By UOAA Advocacy Manager Jeanine Gleba and UOAA Communications and Outreach Manager Ed Pfueller

“If you believe in great things, you may be able to make other people believe in them, too.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

UOAA’s greatest national advocacy effort to raise ostomy awareness is Ostomy Awareness Day. It is held annually on the first Saturday of October. By raising awareness that this is a life-saving surgery we are steadily dispelling fear and misconceptions and erasing stigma. 

The most significant aspect of Ostomy Awareness Day is that we empower people living with ostomies. Every time a person raises ostomy awareness, it has the power to save and transform lives. They show the world their resilience and that they are leading fulfilling lives with their ostomy.  

Get inspired to share your story after listening to this year’s Ostomy Awareness Day Champion Kimberly Holiday-Coleman share her story.

A simple way to share your personal story about how having an ostomy has saved or changed your life is with your family and friends on social media and use the hashtags #OstomiesAreLifesavers,  #OstomyDay2024 or #IAmLivingProof and tag UOAA.  You can also share our #OstomiesAreLifesavers “giphy stickers” on social media (search @UOAAOstomy).

Even if you are not on social media you can click here to record a video automatically or leave a text response or photos for our online ‘wall of love’ gallery of “Ostomies Are Lifesavers” stories.

We hope you can attend the festive atmosphere of one of our eight Run for Resilience Ostomy 5k events around the country or share a photo in your Ostomies Are Lifesavers t-shirt you get when registering for the Virtual Ostomy 5k. However you choose to celebrate, let us know!

To raise much needed ostomy awareness in your community please consider writing a Letter to the Editor of a local newspaper or work behind the scenes by sharing our Ostomy Awareness PSA videos with your local TV outlets. 

To kick-off the weekend events UOAA is partnering with the nonprofit Connecting Pieces for a Virtual Art Expression Class on Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 6:30 pm ET. Bring an ostomy pouch for a healing and fun creative exercise with whatever simple art supplies you have at home. All are welcome! 

On Ostomy Awareness Day on Saturday, October 5, you can also “Ask an Ostomate.” Our Ostomy Awareness Day Champion Kimberly will be hosting Q&A on UOAA’s Instagram @uoaa_ Live at Noon (11am CT).

We hope you’ll join UOAA and the ostomy community and make a difference too! Keep checking our Ostomy Awareness Day webpage for all the ways you can raise ostomy awareness on October 5, 2024.

PS. Awareness doesn’t just happen overnight or in one day. Learn more about raising ostomy awareness all year long within our “How to be an Ostomy Champion” toolkit.