Do you think 15 minutes of your time can help make a HUGE difference in the fight against herpes? Yes, it can! If you’ve been wanting to do *something* to help turn herpes into an obsolete virus, here’s your chance.

April is National STD Month, and we are trying to use that as a rallying cry for action. We want to convince Oprah to do an hour-long segment on this “invisible epidemic”. If her show can turn an obscure book into a New York Times bestseller, imagine what it could do to speed up the development of a vaccine (or even possibly a cure) for herpes! As they say, strength is in numbers – and that’s something we in this community have. Here’s what to do.

Write a Letter

Please take 10 minutes and write a letter. Feel free to use this letter (or pieces from it) if you’re not sure what to say. Other things you might like to include:

• A brief recap of how you contracted herpes, and how it has affected your life
• Any statistics not mentioned in the form letter that made an impact on you (please be sure to include a link to your source for the information, too)
• A photo of yourself, so that the producer can see you are a normal, real person who just happens to have a common, but highly stigmatized, skin condition

Call for Action

Whatever your letter says, please make sure it ends with the following call to action; we want to present a “united front” in what we are asking the public to do.

"Actions 1-2-3 against HSV":

1. Get tested. Make it a routine practice to request a HerpeSelect test (or one of the other tests recommended at http://www.ashastd.org/pdfs/blood_test.pdf) when you go for your annual physical exam. Blood tests can also be done anonymously, using a service like www.requestatest.com.
2. Educate yourself about herpes. Read the ASHA fact sheet (http://www.ashastd.org/pdfs/Herpes_factsheet.pdf) and check out the other resources at www.ashasted.org -- to protect yourself, as well as to spread compassion to the millions of people who currently have HSV.
3. Donate to worthwhile university research programs. Several universities are actively working on new treatments that might lead to a vaccine, or even a cure! Please contribute to their work at either www.herpesisnormal.com or www.curehsv.com. Both of these websites provide direct links to promising research at Duke, Harvard, and the University of Florida. You can also donate specifically to HSV research at the American Social Health Association website (https://www.ashastd.org/commerce/donati ... orm_cc.cfm).

Send the Letter

Send the letter to the producers at the Oprah show. You can send it electronically, by mail – or both! Please try to do this by April 6, as we are trying to flood the Oprah producer offices with emails and letters at the same time.

There are a few options for sending your letter.

• Send it to the "main gateway" for new Oprah show ideas. However, you’ll need to be brief: this site only accepts letters up to 2000 characters. Please feel free to use this brief message, if you need some ideas on what to say.

...not enough space! Please read the next post for the additional ways to send your letter...

Options for mailing a letter to Oprah (continued from the previous post)

• Send it directly to the email boxes for each producer. Go to the Oprah.com producer blog website (http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/ ... book-blogs). You’ll see the photos for each producer; click on their name. To the right of their blog, you’ll see an “About Me” section – click on “send message” (NOTE: you *will* need to set up a username/password on Oprah.com in order to do this). Please send your letter to each producer, but especially to Gina, as I believe a show on herpes would fall under her purview.

• Send a hardcopy to:

The Oprah Winfrey Show
Attention: Show Producer Gina S.
PO Box 909715
Chicago, IL 60690
USA

Let us know you sent a message to Oprah!

Please take a second and post to this thread – letting us know that you’ve sent a letter, and how you’ve sent it (electronically and/or the mail).

Forward this message to others!

Please forward this message to others who want to do *something* to bring much-needed attention to HSV.

Thanks for taking action – by working together, we can move forward in finding a solution to the herpes epidemic. And please keep checking back on this forum; we will be posting more “calls to action” in the near future!

I've noticed that over *80* people have checked out this thread...but no one has said they've taken action. If you are one of those folks: may I politely encourage you to *please* consider taking a few minutes to drop a line to the Oprah producers. We need to show them that we -- as a representative sample of a HUGE population

- want the antiquated, unjust HSV stigma to be addressed
- want the rampant but hidden nature of the HSV epidemic to be brought to light
- want a cure -- and are willing to help fund it

If we as a group do not speak up, then we cannot realistically expect others to see our needs as important. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease -- SO GET SQUEAKY!

I would love to see this topic on Oprah, but there is no way I'm admitting I have herpes to a national (international!) TV show! Sorry--is there any way to do it anonymously?

Yes, you can *absolutely* take action anonymously! I totally understand. Don't worry: we're not asking people to volunteer to actually *go* on the show -- just to write a letter, asking Oprah to do an awareness-raising segment on HSV. April is National STD Month, so we are trying to use that as a motivator with the show producers. It is our hope that she will interview experts who can educate millions about the *real* facts and prevalence of HSV.

All you need to do is:

- address this letter to Gina, the Oprah producer who deals with topics like HSV
- sign it with your first name (or not -- whatever feels okay to you)
- print it
- mail it to:

The Oprah Winfrey Show
Attn: Show Producer Gina S.
PO Box 909715
Chicago IL 60690

That's it! You will have added your voice to others who want to see change made regarding the perception, treatment and eventual elimination of this virus.

This forum is primarily an education and support forum. I have been letting your posts stay up but please try to keep them to a minimum on this topic. I know you've been posting on many forums about this ( not you specifically but others who are also involved with this ) so it's not like your group isn't having a chance to post this on enough places.

Also please do not chastize people for not posting and saying that they support the cause . I don't feel that that's appropriate either when most folks here are newly diagnosed and hurting both mentally and physically.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

betsy

_________________
ASHA Moderator

I'm very sorry, Betsy -- I certainly didn't mean any offense to any readers (especially the newly-diagnosed ones like myself). Please forgive me if my posts came across as any other way.

Thank you for allowing this message to remain posted...ASHA is an important outlet for all of us learning about HSV.

Just wanted to let you know - that I will write to Oprah.
I'm sure others have after seeing your post. It just wouldn't occur to me to post that I had done so - so i'm sure people are taking action.