iFoG's Incredible Journey
My name is Annette Kam, and I am the founder of iFoG.
Where do I even begin to start to tell you the history of iFoG?? Many of you may not believe my story, but this is the truth. I started the guaifenesin protocol in Oct. 2000, being only the 2nd person on Oahu to be on it. A few months later, my rheumatologist was impressed with my progress and asked if he could refer patients to me so of course I said yes and assisted them individually. I started getting a nudge from Miki, who headed a guaifenesin support group on Kauai, to start one here. She is a good sized woman, but not big enough to "make me" do anything against my will and I basically was afraid to do it. But then, on Feb 18, 2001, after months of uneasiness in my spirit, I have NO doubt God spoke to me and kicked me out of my comfort zone. Just as God told Moses in Exodus these words when Moses begged him to send someone else to free his people, God told me these exact same words thru a sermon at church, words that just pierced my heart as soon as I heard them. He said, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then GO! I will help you speak and will teach you what to say!" When I heard those words, "Now then GO!" I started trembling because I knew they were meant for me and scared as I was, I knew I needed to obey.
We started out with 7 of us meeting at Kincaid's for dinner on April 4, 2001. It was a great time of sharing, finally finding people who we could talk freely with and not be afraid of not being understood. We ended up being on an exodus of our own - not knowing from month to month where we would be meeting. Initially we met at different homes...then by the 4th meeting with over 30 in attendance just by word of mouth, we outgrew the homes and finally settled into the Hawaii Kai Retirement Center where we would remain for the next 1-1/2 years. Within the first year, we had had over 70 referrals with 40 on guaifenesin. We did small projects like helping with the national swim meet the beginning of May 2002. We made pretty cool t-shirts but that project was basically a flop and we did not get the publicity promised to us.
But one week later, on May 23, 2002, things got crazy! The Honolulu Star Bulletin ran a 1/2 page article titled "Treatment Targets Fibromyalgia" with a picture of me playing tennis with a story of how I got my life back. That article alone, not only brought 35 new referrals in 3 weeks, but the amazing thing is that it made its way to 14 other states and 2 other countries, including Canada and Hong Kong.
Over the next 6 months we had some ups and downs.
In Sept 2002, a bunch of us decided to infiltrate Kaiser's Arthritis Foundation Support Group but left there being upset because we felt the rheumatologist had poopooed Fibro, saying if we only "got more sleep, ate well, drank more water, exercised more and got rid of the stress in our lives, we wouldn't have diseases like Fibro!" It riled us up and made us realize just how someone not walking in our shoes had no clue what it was like to suffer. Our determination continued in spite of that.
We kept pressing on and kept growing by word of mouth. Then, one month later, in Oct 2002, something totally unexpected happened. I became ill with a condition called ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia) which would keep me out of work for a month at a time and I was not allowed to do anything strenuous. This led to one of our members setting up our very own local online support group, iFoG@yahoogroups.com. This blessing allowed others to contribute to answering questions online and took the burden off of me.
By November 2002, 17 months had passed since we had started iFoG and we had mapped members the whole time on a borrowed massage table. I finally decided Vicki, our dedicated mapper, deserved her own and purchased one for her in exchange for 5 mappings. That was an exciting day shopping at Costco, and I remember Vicki being so jazzed, saying "It's like Christmas a month early! What a wonderful gift...to the whole group!" We just got busier and busier, and in Dec 2002, I decided I could not continue on that frantic pace, especially with me being ill with a clotting disorder...so I put in a request to cut my hours down at work so I could rest and concentrate more on iFoG. Rest? Yeah, that was a joke!
Soon after, I was invited to be a guest speaker at a Kaiser Fibro Conference with one of their rheumatologists, the very rheumatologist who had made us upset 5 months earlier. One of our members was getting well on the protocol and kept badgering him to let me speak and even got me his personal phone number! He agreed, but made it perfectly clear I had only 10 minutes! It was advertised in flyers and word got out. It was my debut as a public speaker and I remember being so nervous but members in iFoG were so encouraging. One in particular told me to just picture the audience in their underwear and that'll take the pressure off of me. It was an incredible night with over 125 people showing up with standing room only. The rheumatologist was impressed by our powerpoint presentation and made a comment that we should have "rented the Blaisdell". That night, his heart softened for us and we picked up more iFoG members.
Some strange things happened along the way in our journey. I was accused once by AOL of being a spammer. I had to explain to AOL that I ran a support group that had emails going out to over 400 people and that I wasn't a spammer. That was pretty distressing. At the time, I didn't even know what spam was except the one you eat! Another time, I was approached by a guy on the outer island who asked me to help his friend who didn't want to be helped....only to find out that he was a stalker who was stalking this woman and trying to use me to communicate with her!
Things continued to move along until our biggest break happened. I was invited to lunch by a patient of Dr. St. Amand, who had moved here and was in charge of 5 radio stations. He told us we should bring Dr. St. down to Hawaii and he could help us...within days, he followed through on his promise. The problem? It was set for August 9th, only 8 weeks away! I can only tell you, who weren't with us at that time, that it was the most exciting 8 weeks in iFoG history. We found people in iFoG with talent we didn't even know existed and things miraculously fell into place. We had a computer whiz in our group, we had a woman who had experience putting on seminars in our group and who would've known? We had Hawaii's Advertising Woman of that Year in our group! She owned her own media company! Because we had helped her get well, she paid it forward and we had big names in our community writing our press releases and public service announcements. I even ended up somehow getting invited to a breakfast meeting with the CEO of Kapiolani Hospital in this small window of opportunity and he hooked me up with public relations which hooked us up with the other hospitals to advertise this event. And most importantly, we had over 40 volunteers in iFoG assisting with every single detail - from making flyers, to getting them posted in every library and community bulletin board. We got free ads in the newspapers, 3 news stories run about the event, along with Public Service Announcements on the radio to a tv interview with Dr. St. Amand the day before the seminar. We even organized a dinner with over 20 doctors...and we organized it all within 8 weeks AND for FREE, AND with fibrofog on top of that!! All in all, I counted 16 miracles that made this seminar come together! On August 9, 2003, iFoG sponsored 2 completely FREE seminars for the public at the Marriott offering hope to close to 700 people. We broke all fire codes with people sitting in the aisles, and leaning against the wall. I cannot even explain the electricity in the room that day - you had to have been there to have experienced it. Dr. St. said it was the biggest, most organized venue he had ever spoken at, even surpassing the one sponsored by Arkansas' Arthritis Foundation which had 500 people show up...and here we were a measly support group with no funds outdoing the big guns.
Well, iFoG grew in leaps and bounds after the seminar. We outgrew our meeting place and had to find a new place within 2 weeks for our support group to meet. I was out of commission due to my spending the whole next week following the seminar daily at Queen's Outpatient getting transfusions and then going for surgery the week after. But through the grace of God, a new member who was an instructor at KCC obtained the auditorium for free. It happened to be the only weekend that it was not booked. We had 90 people show up at this meeting. Then more unexpected blessings happened. We were blessed with a donation to put 25 of Dr. St. Amand's books in public libraries. Then a new person offered to pay the cost of making iFoG into a nonprofit and in Nov 2003, iFoG officially became a 501(c)(3) which then gave us the advantages of tax write offs and cheaper rent. Over the last 7 years, we have met at 8 different locations and have finally settled down at St. Clements Parish Hall since January of 2006 and hope to be there for a long time to come.
We have continued to strive to fulfill our goal to support fibromyalgia sufferers in Hawaii and create awareness of the guaifenesin protocol through physician, patient, and community education. In Sept 2004, we participated at the Senior Fair at the Blaisdell, having what I believe was the most inviting, attractive booth. This may sound weird, but we did this show on faith. Our funds were so low yet we knew it was important. Again another miracle happened! 2 days before the bill arrived, we got an unexpected $1,000 check in the mail from a representative in our community who was closing his campaign fund and wanted to thank us! It was just enough to cover our expenses incurred by the Senior Fair. We followed the following year with a booth at the Women's Expo. Since then, we've partnered with Vim & Vigor Ala Moana to bring in Salicylate free products from Andrea Rose and Iluminare. All in all, we have had a total of 6 articles come out in the local newspapers about us, have had 2 television stories, and a Hawaii Pacific Health article come out. These articles have gone to 24 states and 6 countries that I know of. We have had over 1,400 referrals, have started over 400 on guaifenesin locally, have helped over 30 other individuals in other states get started on the protocol, and have helped 9 support groups on the mainland get started indirectly by sending them information and support as needed.
One of our latest projects was the privilege of sponsoring the Hawaii Fibromyalgia Summit on June 20, 2015 featuring Dr. Melissa Congdon who was trained personally by Dr. St. Amand. She is a fibromyalgia specialist to patients from all over the world and we are so pleased to know that she will carry on his work and legacy in years to come. We were able to raise over $16,000 to sponsor the Summit to provide it totally for free to all attendees and because of the Summit, many are now on their way back to health. It doesn't get any better than that!
I look back to where I personally have come from since beginning the guaifenesin protocol and I am in total awe at where it has led. It has been quite a journey of hard work, determination, and sometimes tears, but most of all, a journey of faith and the reward of seeing others get well because of my obedience to God. I look back in tears at an entry I had made in my journal when I was at one of my low points with fibromyalgia and just beginning the guaifenesin protocol. I felt God had spoken to me and I wrote these words down as I felt them:
"I will bless you thru the book and you in turn will bless others. I will heal you and you will glorify my name." (September 20, 2000)
Little did I know how prophetic those few words would become. I invite you to get your life back if you are suffering from fibromyalgia. There IS hope!