The Canary Report

Contributors

Team Canary

Susie Collins

Susie Collins is founder and contributing editor at The Canary Report. She’s also moderator at The Canary Report’s online social network. She keeps busy doing a bunch of different things. She’s a writer working out of a home office, specializing in executive communications, with some freelancing in local and national politics. She gives a lot of time to her community. And she serves as an assistant to the chancellor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Susie was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in 1995 and breast cancer in 2000. Raised on Kauai and Molokai, she now lives with her husband in Ookala on the island of Hawaii. She loves writing, gardening, animals, and politics. Read more than you ever really wanted to know about Susie here.

Amy Ludwigson

Amy Ludwigson blogs at Pure Habitat Design and is an interior designer and indoor environmental consultant who specializes in creating spaces that are healing, renewing and inspiring. Her travels throughout the world to study spirituality, design and alternative medicine have led her to be able to take a multi-dimensional approach that looks at indoor environments from various perspectives. Having graduated from North Park University, magnum cum laude and Harrington College of Design with honors, she went on to pursue her passion for interiors to be trained as an indoor environmental consultant with the International Institute for Bau-Biologie. Amy has lived with multiple chemical sensitivities and electromagnetic sensitivities and has studied and worked extensively for the past ten years to understand all the elements that go into creating a healthy space from indoor air quality testing, and electromagnetic field analysis to space and clutter clearing. She is based in Chicago and is available for design work and consultations world wide.

Eva Caballé

Eva Caballé is an economist from Barcelona, Spain, who’s lived with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity since 2005. She was head of a department in a brokering company and also was a member of the rock group Lefthanded. She’s suffered severe allergies since she was a teenager and was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome and other related illnesses in 2008, after looking two years for the right diagnosis. Eva is the author of the book Desaparecida: Una vida rota por la Sensibilidad Química Múltiple (Missing: A life broken by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) published in Spanish by El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, Spain, 2009. She also authors NO FUN, a Spanish blog with an English section about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, where she shares information and advice for people who are sick or who want to live a healthier life free of toxics. Eva is totally disabled due to her illnesses and started her blog five months after she was diagnosed to share her knowledge with other people; NO FUN is her window to the world. She loves writing and also is a regular contributor at the art magazine Delirio (Delirium). Eva and her husband, David Palma, are now working collaboratively with other activists to get MCS officially recognized as an illness in Spain. They also are doing many interviews with press, radio and TV to help spread MCS awareness.

Franny Armstrong

Franny Armstrong is a writer of “paranormal romantic suspense” novels filled with private investigators, police, and even Royal Canadian Mounted Police who use their amazing psychic abilities to catch the villains. Franny also uses her technical and journalistic skills to create helpful, upbeat stories and articles to enlighten and motivate people. Franny became ill with recurrent sinus infections, coughing fits, fatigue, and disorientation in the mid-1990s, and after pursuing a diagnosis from allergists, was told by one years later, after he found no sign of allergies, that the reason for her ailments was sensitivities to chemicals. Having to quit work, stay at home, and give up socializing, shopping, and just about everything else was devastating, but Franny found one way to come out on top: she became a writer. “Living with MCS is a battle,” she says, “but if you never give up, you’ll win the war!” Franny will share at The Canary Report her life with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and other adventures.

Keith Carlson

Keith Carlson, aka Nurse Keith, blogs at Digital Doorway, a digital venue for creative expression, nursing adventures, reflections on healthcare, thoughtful reverie, thoughtless repose, and other flotsam and jetsam. In 2006, Digital Doorway was listed as one of the Best Literary Medical Weblogs. Keith is a forty-something Registered Nurse, happily married since 1989, with a wonderful, dynamic wife, Mary, and a creative, compassionate, and loving son in his mid-twenties. Originally interested in pursuing a career in the visual arts, Keith’s disposition led him to a life in healthcare and service, for better or worse, as well as a mid-life career as a writer and blogger. His life’s goal is to live a simple, community- and service-oriented existence in Central America with his lovely wife, some goats, some dogs, good friends, good wine, an organic garden, and a pile of books (and a laptop with a fast Internet connection, of course!) “Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS),” he writes, “we are consistently challenged to function in a world where vaporized chemicals and fragrances fill the air. In stores, at work, in medical offices and supermarkets, we are constantly bombarded with drifting clouds of toxins that cause us a variety of symptoms, some of which are irritating and others which are potentially debilitating, at least temporarily.” Keith and Mary are currently living full-time in their new RV, traveling the highways and byways of America, visiting intentional communities, and bringing Laughter Yoga and the benefits of health and wellness coaching to new and old friends along the way. Read all about it at Mary and Keith’s Excellent Adventure.

Kimberly Shaw

Kimberly Shaw blogs at Adventurous Canary and is an author, educator, filmmaker, natural health consultant and lifelong student. She’s currently making a film documentary about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity with the working title Environmentally Not Safe. She was diagnosed with MCS in 1995. Kimberly graduated from Clayton College with highest honors in 2004, earning a Bachelors of Science in Natural Health. She is currently working on her final year toward a Master of Science in Natural Health, focusing on Nutrition, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Mind/Body Healing and other alternative health practices. Convinced that the human body absorbs at least 60% of what is put on the skin, Kimberly also creates her own organic skin care products. She shares on The Canary Report her passion for organic food, easy-to-make recipes, herbs, personal care products, and the enjoyment of everyday life in the midst of allergies and sensitivities. Her many travels led her husband to give her the nickname Adventurous Canary. She lives in Sedona, Arizona.

Linda Sepp

Linda Sepp is research assistant at The Canary Report. She developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivities in 1994 after a toxic carpet installation in an apartment below hers. She had been slightly “sensitive” to many perfumes and personal care products since the 1970s, only she didn’t know what that meant at the time. These and other experiences led her to research building and construction materials, indoor and outdoor air quality, household products, and the political landscape surrounding MCS and environmental health, making her the go-to person for many things MCS. Linda continues to spend her functional time researching material to help educate others about the toxic nature of everyday products and how they affect both people and the environment. Most notably, she’s researched and compiled information on the housing needs of people with MCS, as this is the most important determinant of health and the most difficult component to achieve without assistance and support. Along with her invaluable contributions to The Canary Report, Linda has contributed to MCS America and other MCS and environmental health organizations. She is a Canadian mother of both two- and four-leggeds, and  hopes to have safe housing soon, where she can recover enough to become a storyteller who inspires people to do the right thing simply because they can. Linda blogs at Linda Sepp about her urgent need for help in finding appropriately safe housing in central Ontario, Canada.

Michael Walkup

Michael Walkup is a practicing attorney with more than 25 years experience in disability law. In 2001, he became disabled due to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome. He now provides a service to advise clients with potential disability claims who have MCS, CFS and/or FMS. As these programs and law are usually federal, he is able to practice in all 50 states and, therefore, represent clients regardless of location. Michael is a long time Sustaining Member of the National Organization for Social Security Claimants’ Representatives, the only national body for disability representatives. He is also certified as a Federal Trial Lawyer and is admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran’s Claims. Michael would welcome the opportunity to possibly help with disability claims. For more information, visit his website MCS Legal Help at walkuplaw.com. Contact info: email MJWalkup@Amertech.net or call 866-880-4878.