When Princeton, New Jersey Landmark Forum graduate Khurt Williams’ wife was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago, both of their lives were changed forever. Af first, Willams tried to pretend the symptoms were all in her head. “What a jerk I was!” he recalls. He thought that the stress of running a household by herself with two small kids while Khurt worked was causing her problems. He thought it was just depression and his wife saw a therapist. Eventually, after a huge battery of tests, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Williams completed Landmark Education’s curriculum for living last year, and when it came to choose a project in the Self-Expession and Leadership Program, he knew exactly where he wanted to make a difference. He had come to realize that not only did many people have to deal with the debilitating and painful effects of the illness itself, which include pain, fatigue, and a variety of other problems, but they often suffered from the additional cruel burden of isolation and criticism from their loved ones who didn’t understand what they were suffering from or questioned its reality. Williams himself had recently been diagnosed with adult onset diabetes, but he wasn’t about to let anything stop him from making a difference. He created Fibromyalgia – You’re Not Alone as a way for both sufferers and their family members to increase their understanding of the illness and be connected to a larger community that understood their problems.

The site allows members to  participate in fibromyalgia-related discussions in the Forum, share their thoughts and ideas in their blog, and post their personal photos and videos.  There is no cost to join.  Members of the site follow a simple process to create their profile page, which they can later customize including a profile photo and additional details about themselves.

For Khurt, the project is a natural expression of both his desire to make a difference and his love for his wife. “When I had the opportunity to create a project that would make a difference in the community, it was only natural that my wife’s illness would be the inspiration,” he says. For more information, email him at islandinthenet.com or call him at 609-964-1226.