And the Winner of the Sclerodoodles Contest Is...Erin Thomas!
Monday, May 6, 2013
By: Christina Relacion

Grand Prize Winner Announced in Sclerodoodle Contest

Congratulations to 23-year-old Erin Thomas of Albuquerque, N.M., who is the 2013 grand prize winner of the Sclerodoodle Contest. (Click here to see an enlarged version of her doodle.) This year’s theme was “Fifteen Years of Fighting Scleroderma.”

Erin was diagnosed when she was 11 with systemic scleroderma. “I would say the biggest way scleroderma has affected me as a young person is that you constantly have to alter your dreams or make news ones,” she said. As the grand prize winner, Erin receives a scholarship to attend this year’s National Patient Education Conference in Atlanta.

Erin about her artwork:

“My hands don't function like they once did. It takes a lot in me to color and sketch these days. The S and C represent the treatment that we have to endure, and the smile on the girl’s face represents how grateful she is to have these available to her. The L tells us to love life no matter what your life may be, you are here, and you should love every minute. The E is a rose, as in “smell the roses” because we can’t take the small things in life for granted. The R of course is my hand, bent and blue, but still functional in its own way. The O and D are a pocket watch and a boxing glove, because we fight for every beautiful minute that we have. The next E is the sun, just because I love the warmth and the feeling of the sun kissing your skin. The next R is pills, and I am grateful for what each pill I take does for me, even if they are a pain to swallow! The M is the Scleroderma Foundation logo, because without their support, we wouldn’t be here. And, the A is a heart monitor, for a beating heart is music to anyone’s ears.”

We’d also like to congratulate the second and third place winners, Bianca DeLizzio and Manda Schulte, for their excellent doodles. (View the other finalists’ artwork here.) The top three finalists’ artwork will appear on special wearable items that will be available in the coming weeks before Scleroderma Awareness Month in June. All of the Sclerodoodle Submissions will be available to view online by May 15.

To learn more about Scleroderma Awareness Month and how you can help spread awareness, please visit www.sclerodermaawareness.org.