News & Events

If you’ve donated in the past to the GDATF (thank you for your support!), please check your mailbox soon for our 2025 annual fund letter. You can also read the letter in its entirety below…

You’ve probably heard some version of “The Star Thrower” or “The Starfish Story”. The essence is that a person (in some versions a child) is walking along a stretch of beach after a storm and stopping randomly to toss stranded starfish back into the sea. The narrator asks the star thrower how such a small effort could possibly make a difference in the world. And then the star thrower picks up a starfish, tosses it back into the sea, and replies, “It made a difference to that one.”

Nancy Hord Patterson, Ph.D., Founder and Chair Emeritus for the Graves’ Disease & Thyroid Foundation, has been a tireless Star Thrower for the last 35 years, making a difference one patient at a time! Nancy founded the GDATF (formerly the National Graves’ Disease Foundation) after getting diagnosed with Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease. When she found the search for information and support to be a challenge, Nancy decided to build an information and support network for all who came behind.

Nancy often shared “The Starfish Story” when training new support group leaders to show that every time we reach out to help someone – whether it’s by providing needed information or allowing them to feel heard or simply making sure they know they aren’t alone – it makes a difference. But did you know that “The Star Thrower” is part of a longer essay (of the same name) by Loren Eiseley? If you’ve only heard a partial version of the story, there’s more – and it’s important! In the original essay, the narrator leaves the beach, pondering The Star Thrower’s message (“It made a difference to that one”), and then returns to assist with the rescue efforts, making twice the difference!

Nancy’s own endocrinologist and reconstructive surgeon joined her as Star Throwers, and as a member of this community (the club that nobody wanted to join), you can help make a difference, too! You can make a difference by visiting our social media sites (or our closed Facebook group) and posting a kind comment for someone who is struggling. You can make a difference by attending one of our Zoom support group meetings and sharing your personal experience to help lighten the load for a newly diagnosed patient. You can make a difference by visiting our website at https://gdatf.org/contact/ and letting us know what YOU need to successfully navigate this journey. You might even be willing to make a difference by sharing your personal story on our website or on social media or in a local news story. The knowledge and experience you share might give someone you don’t even know the nudge they need to finally visit the doctor about all those weird symptoms they’ve been experiencing.

And if you are able to give, we would be grateful for your tax-deductible financial contribution, which makes a difference by funding education and support programs for patients with Graves’ disease, thyroid eye disease, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. You can mail a check to: GDATF, P.O. Box 2793, Rancho Santa Fe, CA, 92067 or make a secure donation on our website.

Sincerely,

Kimberly K. Dorris, Executive Director and CEO
Nancy Hord Patterson, Founder and Chair Emeritus