American Porphyria Foundation Medical Moment

  • May 11, 2021

Medical Moment-

The APF's official YouTube channel has valuable Patient Stories, past fundraisers and events, and a recording of the 2017 Externally-Led Patient Focused Drug Development Meeting on Acute Porphyrias. All of this information exists to be a resource to you, our members!

Visit the APF YouTube channel today at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs1ByS1xTaYW9OnBHp60eJA.

Media Coverage and Porphyria Videos

The APF welcomes media attention to these fascinating and troubling diseases. If you are a member of the media, we hope you will use the information you find on our site in your stories, and we ask that you credit the American Porphyria Foundation as your source. We encourage you to share our website address, www.porphyriafoundation.org, and our toll-free telephone number, 1-866-APF-3635, with your audience as well.

Different types of porphyria (and its misdiagnoses) have been featured on Discovery Health's Mystery Diagnosis, and on dramas like House, CSI, and ER. Patient stories have been covered in publications ranging from Ladies' Home Journal to online sports news outlets. There are works of popular fiction and non-fiction about porphyria, notably Isabel Allende's memoir, Paula, written while the author’s daughter lay in a coma brought on by an acute attack.

Even for some of the best minds in medicine, porphyria can be a puzzle. When porphyria is unrecognized, patients are often given medications that worsen their condition, undergo multiple unnecessary and dangerous surgeries, or suffer permanent skin damage, severe liver disease or other complications that could be avoided if the disease were better recognized. Due to these complications, we welcome media attention that gives accurate information about our group of rare disease.

Please contact our office for a complete listing of print, radio and television features and enjoy the media made available on this website.