In honor of World Psoriasis Day, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk with the incredible Cyndi Lauper about psoriasis and her new song, Hope. It was inspired by the conversations that she’s having with people in the psoriasis community and her own journey with the disease. The song title so purely captures exactly that feeling that we all have about psoriasis. More than that, her song is a unifying anthem that beautifully connects and inspires the millions of people around the world living with psoriasis. She said her inspiration for the song came from “All of these people. It was so moving and kind of heartbreaking when they finally found something that worked. But the one thing that I got from them is that they didn’t give up. They never gave up. so I thought that was a good thing to remember. And that it gave me a lot of hope and it gives a lot of people hope.”
Music has power.
Music has the power to evoke strong emotions and transform experiences and simple moments.
I felt an incredible gratitude towards Cyndi who created such a special tribute to a community that has impacted my life in such a positive way. Having someone with such a powerful voice in this community speaking with us and so beautifully translating our day to day feelings is just too amazing to put into words. Through her journey with the See Me campaign, Cyndi met Todd Bello of Overcoming Psoriasis. He said that it was a game changer with Cyndi talking about psoriasis. She was going to speak for him and for us. For her it changed everything, “because 1.) I felt a responsibility to do it right and 2.) I wanted to give people hope so they could help themselves.”
Oh please, the creams!
I was prepared with a few questions, but from the start of the call it was more conversational and about sharing stories. Her energy radiated with confidence and power.
There’s this instant connection when you meet someone else with psoriasis. It’s like a secret club that nobody asked to be part of. You both just get it. You understand their struggles with simple sounding things. Getting out of a taxi should be relatively easy, right? But not when you leave your skin in there like Cyndi once did!
“Oh please, the creams! Come on! I put so much cream on that I got out of a cab one time and my skin came off on the cab. That’s how thin my skin got. I have no idea it was making my skin that thin. My skin is still healing.”
Costume designs to cover psoriasis flares.
Many of us with psoriasis struggle with the decisions of what to wear to work and trying to find the energy to power through the day. Cyndi has those same struggles, but for her it was designing costumes to cover her psoriasis on stage. It was about always being in the public eye and traveling all over the world with a crazy tour schedule.
We swapped stories of the ridiculous treatments we’ve tried. Including rubber suits and rolls of static cling to force those horrible, smelly topical creams to stay on and hope they do their job. I asked her what the most “out there” treatment she’s ever tried.
“I went to an alternative doctor once while I was trying to do a tour. I had this idea that I would run through the arena like a boxer, then climb up the stairs and I’d do this whole number. Meanwhile for my psoriasis, I had been making teas to soak my feet in at night and I made a tea bath to take a bath during the day, so basically I was detoxing. I was detoxing while I was touring and that was the craziest thing I did because at one point I got global amnesia. My body went into shock because I was doing this and somewhere around the 5th or 6th song I forgot what I was doing.… I don’t know how I got through. I heard it was really good!”
“I got better doing this work”
Cyndi is unapologetically herself and a powerhouse advocate for the psoriasis community. For so long she’s covered up her skin and battled through her sickness while creating such an incredible life and career for herself.
She says “I got better doing this work. Before, I didn’t have enough information. But there is information and you need to research. Go on this webpage SEEMETOKNOWME to hear everybody’s stories. Go to the National Psoriasis Foundation and hear what they have to say. Find the practitioners that actually study psoriasis, not cosmetology. And not that I’m knocking it because, honey cosmetology is everything when you get older! When you’re sick, you feel powerless but knowledge is power.”
Visit psoriasis.org to see more about Cyndi Lauper’s incredible psoriasis story and listen to her inspirational new song, Hope.
Love this!
Great article….I’m hoping somebody tells Cyndi about my YA novel about a teenager with psoriasis. It’s called “Gone Before Spring” and is available on Amazon, B&N, etc. My son, who passed away in April was a huge fan of Cyndi’s from the age of three when he waited all day for her second video to come out on MTV. When it finally did, he opened the front door and hollered out to the neighborhood, “Cyndi Lauper’s new video is on !” He was so pleased that she had become the spokesperson for psoriasis as he saw me struggle with it my whole life.
Thanks, Sheila
Sheilasolomonshotwell.com