A Social Network I Wish Didn't Have to Exist

It’s a universal fear: you or a loved one gets diagnosed with a rare disease. After the dust settles, one of the first things many people do is hit the Web to begin research. With so much information to wade thorugh, separating the good from the bad is a difficult task. One of the best things you can do is find someone who has suffered the same illness.

RareShare announces that it has launched a health social networking platform specifcally for rare medical disorders.

Currently in ‘early beta,’ the Website hopes to bring patients, families and healthcare professionals together to share information and personal knowledge about rare diseases.

“Our goal is to build a network of micro-communities where people can help each other by sharing firsthand knowledge about living and being affected by these medical disorders,” explained Eric Steele, Co-Founder of RareShare. “By launching an early-beta version of RareShare, we hope gain further insight about our initial user-base to help improve the services and tools offered through RareShare,” he added.

The community is currently broken out into 500 micro-communities, each dedicated to a specific rare disorder. They plan to double that number by summer’s end. With more than 1,500 recognized rare diseases, there’s unfortunatley no shortage of illness.

The Website is a great resource. Now let’s hope you don’t ever have to check it out.

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