Jun 16, 2026 · 43 min · 11 segments
Feeling Alone with your Lipoedema? This episode, as part of our Lipoedema Awareness Month, is for you. Meet Marianne Pedersen, a leader in the community. Learn how 28 years ago she was diagnosed and…
Marianne PedersenGuest
Vanessa ArmstrongHost
Carrie ReedyHost
And shortly after I joined LASS, probably about two years, I met online the most amazing woman who goes by the name of Anca Savisi.
And I met Anka, who said she wanted to start a group because she had noticed that in a lot of the groups, there was a sort of a negativity there.
a sort of bitchiness, I guess you might call it, but there was a sort of a negativity.
People would put other people down and so we decided together, well, she decided and invited me to come along with her and be one of the administrators to start one called Lipoedema Warriors.
And the idea for that was to create a safe space where put-downs, be they put-downs on yourself or put-downs on other people would not be tolerated, where we were encouraged to speak to others, to ourselves and of ourselves with kindness and positivity and we now have almost 30,000 members.
And we've actually had to modify the groups because we very quickly became global.
So we started our second group, which is the Lipoedema Warriors Australia, and we try to hold it specifically for Australians rather than people from Iceland or the US getting in there thinking that it's a group for people with lipoedema.
We want to keep it for Australians so we can discuss the medical aspects, we can use it to get a lobby group set up for talking to doctors and education.
So if somebody is living in London and wants to join it and she's an Australian, that's fine.
But if somebody lives in London and she's not an Australian, we don't admit them because we then direct them to our main group.
And then we noticed that a lot of the larger ladies could be a little bit negative towards Stage 1s.
And, you know, they'd be a bit dismissive, you know, I don't, you know, I don't see anything wrong with you.
Or they might say, I wish I had your legs, hon, or I'll kill for your legs.
And shortly after I joined LASS, probably about two years, I met online the most amazing woman who goes by the name of Anca Savisi.
And I met Anka, who said she wanted to start a group because she had noticed that in a lot of the groups, there was a sort of a negativity there.
a sort of bitchiness, I guess you might call it, but there was a sort of a negativity.
People would put other people down and so we decided together, well, she decided and invited me to come along with her and be one of the administrators to start one called Lipoedema Warriors.
And the idea for that was to create a safe space where put-downs, be they put-downs on yourself or put-downs on other people would not be tolerated, where we were encouraged to speak to others, to ourselves and of ourselves with kindness and positivity and we now have almost 30,000 members.
And we've actually had to modify the groups because we very quickly became global.
So we started our second group, which is the Lipoedema Warriors Australia, and we try to hold it specifically for Australians rather than people from Iceland or the US getting in there thinking that it's a group for people with lipoedema.
We want to keep it for Australians so we can discuss the medical aspects, we can use it to get a lobby group set up for talking to doctors and education.
So if somebody is living in London and wants to join it and she's an Australian, that's fine.
But if somebody lives in London and she's not an Australian, we don't admit them because we then direct them to our main group.
And then we noticed that a lot of the larger ladies could be a little bit negative towards Stage 1s.
And, you know, they'd be a bit dismissive, you know, I don't, you know, I don't see anything wrong with you.
Or they might say, I wish I had your legs, hon, or I'll kill for your legs.
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