Producers have yet to decide on an exact filming location, but the information will be shared as soon as it’s available. Specific times for when people need to be in front of the camera will also be posted.
Breakfast Television begins at 5:30 a.m. and runs for three-and-a-half hours until 8 a.m. The episode will also air pre-taped segments of the PJ ski race, dogsledding and the Maligne Canyon Ice Walk.
Dog owners also plan to outfit their pets in pyjamas and walk past the cameras. High school students will do a flash mob and the kid’s choir will sing the Sesame Street song “What I Am” by artist will.i.am, which Rode said was her “go-to” song when she was sick.
And of course, there will be discussions about autoimmune disorders, the cause behind pyjama day.
Many people affected by an autoimmune disease “suffer in silence,” said Rode, which is why it’s so important to give them a voice. She understands what it’s like to be in their shoes because she’s affected by Wegener’s granulomatosis, a rare autoimmune disease that affects one in 40,000 people.
After months of doctor visits and tests, Rode was finally diagnosed correctly. Wegener’s is incurable and she receives lifelong treatment to help suppress her immune system. “I’m on chemotherapy for the rest of my life.”
Since receiving the correct diagnosis three years ago, she began raising awareness of all the approximately 150 autoimmune diseases. Other not well-known facts about autoimmune diseases are that they can affect children and 75 per cent of those diagnosed with an autoimmune disease are women, said Rode.
A stigma is attached to autoimmune diseases because those affected typically look normal on the outside, but feel terrible inside, which is often why it’s labelled the “invisible disease.”
“Wearing pyjamas at work gives us a sense that something is wrong,” said Rode, similar to how it can feel living with an autoimmune disease.
In addition to PJ Day, Rode has also placed heart-shaped donation tins at various locations around town.
“I really feel that we will see a cure in our lifetime,” she said. “I don’t want my child to go through it.”
Eliminating autoimmune diseases will change the healthcare system and lift a big weight off it, she adds, because people wouldn’t have to visit the doctor or receive medical treatment as frequently.
In total, 20 per cent of the population is directly affected by autoimmune diseases, which in turn affects friends and families.
To support raising awareness of autoimmune diseases, wear PJs on Friday, March 1, attend the day’s events, like the pyjama fashion show, and be part of the large Jasper crowd when Breakfast Television films its morning show.
Rode is ecstatic with all the PJ Day support from the community and emphasizes the group effort. “It’s not me, it’s us [Jasper].
“It’s people taking part in something that’s working toward their better health.”
For more information on PJ Day, autoimmune diseases and Rode’s work on finding the common thread to autoimmunity, visit her site at .
