Two sisters from Marlow have reached the finals of the international 9th Annual WEGO Health Awards for patient leaders.

Trishna Bharadia and her sister Anisha Gangotra, have been both shortlisted for their hard work over the last 12 months.

Trishna has been named in the final six of two categories: Healthcare Collaborator and Lifetime Achievement while Anisha has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Rookie of the Year category.

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The sisters both live with physical and mental health conditions and have been using advocacy to help others with chronic illness to try and improve the delivery of healthcare.

Following the news, Trishna said: “I’m over the moon to have been shortlisted in not one but two categories.

“It’s really exciting to see my advocacy efforts recognised in this way.

“Hopefully, it will help to create further awareness around the issues of living with chronic illness and encourage others to become advocates and share their stories.

“Everyone will be a patient at some point in their lives, so I believe we all have a responsibility to try to improve the future of healthcare.”

Anisha then added: “It was such a surprise to be nominated for Rookie of the Year. Continuing the conversation around mental health and chronic illness is vital to raise awareness, smash stigma, and discrimination, and to put a face to these conditions.

“I’m honoured to be among the 13,000 nominees across all categories, who are all doing amazing advocacy work, and I’m delighted to be in the final six for this category.”

Trishna, a translator for a business intelligence company, began her patient advocacy work after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2008 when she was just 28-years-old.

She also lives with chronic urticaria/angioedema, irritable bowel syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety.

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Anisha is newer to the advocacy and started to raise awareness about living with mental health conditions and chronic illness in 2019.

She has lived with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, since 2008, but it was the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression resulting from her being a victim in a non-fault high-speed car accident in 2011 that led her to begin advocating for better understanding and support for others in a similar situation.

The two have done many events for charities, which includes organizing Zumba warm-up sessions before national charity races.

Winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony on October 15 at 7pm ET via a Facebook Premiere event on the WEGO Health Facebook page.

Wego connects patient leaders within its network with healthcare companies, to incorporate the patient perspective and expertise into every stage of the healthcare product life cycle.