A side project
In February this year I was diagnosed having Sarcoidosis. At that moment I did not know what it was. I understood Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease that can affect almost any organ in the body. It causes heightened immunity, which means that a person’s immune system, which normally protects the body, overreacts. Resulting in damaging the body’s own tissue.
After the diagnosis I had a lot of questions. Questions like:
- Is the course of the disease in all cases the same?
- Which organs will be affected?
- What are the consequences?
- How long am I sick?
- What can I suspect?
- and even am I going to die?
Unfortunately, my doctor could not give me any guarantee. Even Google was not very useful. I had more questions than answers.
During the night an idea popped up in my mind. What if I build a website where other patients with Sarcoidosis, could indicate:
- how it goes with their illness,
- what progress they made
- and how they are feeling.
Could I then analyze the data and visualize on a case by case basis how their sarcoidosis may progress and what he or she could expect?
Today the first version of this website is live in private Beta. And with the help of some friends at the University and a little luck we know in about a year from now how this disease progresses and what perspective a Sarcoidosis patient has! For more information regarding this side project, have a look at http://www.sarcoidose.me