Today is premiere day for my sponge puppet film. I will write more about it in the next few posts. Here just briefly what it is all about.

For this film I have teamed up with Avril Lunken, an lymphoedema occupational therapist from Melbourne and her daughter Tilly, a playwright in London. We thought the neutral medium of puppetry would be ideal to highlight this little-known condition which can make the lives of many women who suffer from it miserable. Lipoedema, is a condition where abnormal fatty deposits accumulate in the butt and legs but not the feet. Sometimes known as “painful fat syndrome,” women who have lipoedema often believe (or are told) they are simply over-weight but find that no amount of exercise or diet reduces the fatty deposits. Their legs and thighs are out of proportion with the rest of their body. This condition affects women only and manifests itself usually after puberty, child birth or menopause.

Imagine how soul-destroying it must be, when the only advice your doctor gives you is to loose weight, but you know too well you have already tried every diet under the sun. He then goes on to paint the bleakest picture what will happen if you don’t heed his advice…

With our film we want to reduce the prejudice towards those with the condition and instigate more research into the subject. During the next three days, Avril is presenting a poster at the 10th Australasian Lymphology Association (ALA) Conference here in Auckland. The film can be accessed by the participants of the conference via a QR code on the poster.

Life would become so much easier for sufferers, if only more people knew it is a medical condition and not a weakness of the will.

Please watch the film and share their story!

A big, fat Thank You!   Dietlind