Share your personal story about how having an ostomy has saved or changed your life with your friends on social media and use the use the hashtag #OstomiesAreLifesavers #OstomyDay2024 #IAmLivingProof and tag UOAA. Help smash stigmas and raise ostomy awareness on a national level or perhaps just confide in few friends for the first time.

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 “Ostomy Are Lifesavers” stories.

Get creative with our special Instagram or TikTok video green screen or our social media profile frame.

Help us start preparing for World Ostomy Day in 2025! 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/)

(Our 2024 T-Shirt)

The Run for Resilience Ostomy 5k is will be back in 2025 but you can still donate to an event near you. Over 1,200 people Celebrated Ostomy Awareness Day at 8 in-person events around the country or a Worldwide Virtual Ostomy 5k you can do anywhere! These events are a key fundraiser to support the programs and services of United Ostomy Associations of America, Inc.

Be a Mythbuster! Smash ostomy stigmas with ostomy fact social media graphics.

Save the images above or fact graphics such as People of All Ages have an Ostomy or or You Have Likey Met an Ostomate and Never Knew It

You can also share our #OstomiesAreLifesavers “giphy stickers” on your own social media posts! (search @UOAAOstomy)

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.

Each year UOAA advocates from across the United States engage their elected officials in their state about the importance of raising awareness for lifesaving ostomy surgery to smash stigma.

We have a new webpage with lots of information and a map to see the progress we are making across the country.

Please let us know if your state’s governor has passed a proclamation at advocacy@ostomy.org and we will change your state’s status on the map.

Spread ostomy awareness and connect people in your community to ostomy support and information. Here is a sample template to help you get started. SAMPLE-LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR-2024 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. 

Tune in to UOAA’s Instagram @UOAA_ on Ostomy Awareness Day 10/5/25 at noon eastern time (11 am central) for a special live and personable 30-minute Q&A with the always inspiring and relatable Kimberly Holiday Coleman.

Looking for other fun ideas to celebrate Ostomy Awareness Day or your Stomaversary? Check out these ostomy activities from our partner at Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Request a free stoma sticker Hollister. Wearing a stoma sticker is a powerful way to educate, start a conversation, or show support for people living with or caring for ostomies. We suggest you place this sticker over clothes, on your lower right or left side between your navel and hip, where ostomies are typically located. To receive your Stoma Sticker by October 5, 2024, please request your Sticker by September 21.

https://www.hollister.com/en/stomasticker

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! 

Register today! $10 child, $25 Individual, $35 Group