September 22, 2023 marked the fifth annual World Narcolepsy Day, uniting narcolepsy advocates worldwide in a collective effort to combat stigma and elevate global awareness. Our community members voiced their support through social media, creative artworks, videos, events, and much more.
Although it’s impossible to encompass the entirety of this remarkable day, we’d like to share a few standout moments from Project Sleep’s vibrant community.
Rising Voices speaker Felicia Elisabeth, a graduate student currently living in Thailand, shared her narcolepsy journey — from experiencing symptoms as a teenager to finding proper diagnosis and raising her voice to fight stigma.
Rising Voices speaker Chiara Buzzelli, an occupational therapist in Buenos Aires, shared her narcolepsy story to raise awareness and fight stigma in Argentina, where there is little understanding or support for people living with this chronic neurological condition.
In this special live broadcast, Project Sleep traveled to Australia to honor the life and work of Melissa Jose, incredible leader of Narcolepsy Australia and champion for World Narcolepsy Day, and continued with an amazing Rising Voices speaker, Aussie Alex Lee’s narcolepsy story.
We celebrated World Narcolepsy Day 2023 with a special online trivia night, hosted by NFL player living with narcolepsy, Josh Andrews, and Project Sleep President & CEO Julie Flygare. See more about Josh Andrews in the WND 2021 video series, where he shares his story of living with narcolepsy publicly for the first time in a video collaboration with Project Sleep.
Big cheers and high-fives to our 2023 World Narcolepsy Day Trivia prizewinners! With questions ranging from science to pop culture, everyone’s extensive knowledge of sleep WOWED us. It was a close game, but we’re thrilled to celebrate the well-deserved victories of Ed, Alex, and Tatiana!
It’s not too late to host a trivia night in your community! The World Narcolepsy Day Trivia Toolkit will guide you through everything you need to host you very own trivia night, including a host script, scoresheets, and answer cards. This trivia may have been created for World Narcolepsy Day 2023, but it’s good for fun all year round! Learn more and download the Trivia Toolkit.
People and pets around the world participated in our 2023 celestial-themed World Narcolepsy Day Virtual Photo Booth – creating almost 600 photos collectively! View the entire gallery here.
We love seeing your creative and informative World Narcolepsy Day Instagram Reels! Click to watch a few from Sleep Doctor Chris, Rising Voices grad Maegan Dobson-Sippy, @vadertheservicepup, and Rising Voices speaker and WND Commitee Member Iris Vasconcelos.
Iris’ “Mind the Gap” Reel was made in collaboration with the World Narcolepsy Day Committee and Project Sleep to highlight the huge delays between symptom onset and diagnosis. See more awesome social content by searching the hashtag #WorldNarcolepsyDay on Instagram!
Thank you for supporting Project Sleep’s 2023 WND t-shirt fundraiser. With over 500 shirts sold raising $5,402 for Project Sleep, you are all shining bright with narcolepsy awareness! (P.S. Awareness never goes out of style! You can still order here.)
A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the resounding success of World Narcolepsy Day 2023. Witnessing the immense love and support within our community throughout September was truly touching. For more glimpses of World Narcolepsy Day in action, go to Instagram and search the hashtag #WorldNarcolepsyDay.
We extend our gratitude to our partner organizations around the world and all those who engaged in Project Sleep’s activities. Your participation has left an indelible mark on our world!
An amazing 60 community members gave their time and energy as World Narcolepsy Day Ambassadors to promote awareness of narcolepsy by participating in activities, raising funds, and spreading the word about narcolepsy in their schools, workplaces and communities. HUGE thanks to all our WND Ambassadors, and a special shoutout to our top three fundraisers:
Special thanks to Project Sleep’s 2023 World Narcolepsy Day Committee, a group of narcolepsy awareness superstars and volunteers led by Rising Voices advocate, Lindsey Kizer. We are forever grateful to these Committee members who shared their time, invaluable ideas, input, and support. We couldn’t have pulled all this off without this incredible team, including: Katie, Kristen, Grisel, Stacy, Iris, Ashley, Lauren, Agata, Tre, Brynnlee, Lauren, Richelle, Kaylyn, Chelsea, Sarah, Brandi, and Caitlin.
Please rest well for now, friends. We can’t wait to celebrate World Narcolepsy Day with you again on September 22nd, 2024!
