Our History

A Brief History of our Organization

Our Association actually got its start back in late 1995, when I timidly ventured out onto the Web in the hope of finding at least one other person with AVN. Having just been diagnosed with it, and having been told that the disease was extremely rare, I was determined to find someone with whom I could talk to about it. Absolutely no one I knew had ever heard of it before, and neither had I.  As for me, I was simply a wife, mother, homemaker, and medical office manager. Then I developed AVN, and as a result, my entire world, and my family's worlds were changed forever.

Within the first two weeks of my venture out onto the Web with my little one-page "Marie's Breakfast Nook" offering, I did hear from someone else with AVN, a lovely woman in Long Island, NY, by the name of Judy Adolph. We struck up a correspondence, and within a few months, the two of us became official Community Volunteer Chat Hosts with AOL's Better Health Network We formed a chat group, inviting other AVN victims to join us. Within that first year, our little chat group numbered in the hundreds. It was clear that AVN was not truly all that rare anymore as more and more people found their way to us; our growth was phenomenal. Judy was also the leader of the Lupus community on AOL, and was greatly needed  by her community. She went on to lead her own group, but has never strayed too far away from us! She remains an active member and a volunteer with us. Over the years, we continued to grow on AOL until they closed down their support communities. (Meanwhile, we had moved to Yahoo in 1999, where we remained for the next 10 years.)

By early 2004. it was becoming quite clear that the demand and need for a real patient support system, catering to the patients' needs, problems, and concerns, was very apparent.  So,  we took a deep breath, and saying more than a few prayers, we applied for non-profit status.  In February 2005, we  reached that important milestone of being approved  as a non-profit organization.  At last, we were on our way!

Today, our organization has registered members from all over the world. We also have quite a few volunteers who, despite their pain and physical limitations, are working side by side with us to help make a difference for all those who suffer from this terrible ailment.  Each and every one of our volunteers gives tirelessly of themselves to help make the world a better place for all those with ON/AVN.

Ours is truly the world's first support group system "For AVN patients by AVN patients", and remains one that is recognized by many other fine groups, societies, and medical establishments world-wide.