At the age of 14 UW-Eau Claire senior Rachael Korinek’s health began to take a turn.

Korinek developed shin splints, but she didn’t think too much of them at first. Korinek’s shin splints lasted for five years. At the age of 18 she was diagnosed with her first chronic illness.

“I have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, chemical sensitivities and Lyme disease,” Korinek said.

The diagnosis of a chronic disease, or multiple chronic diseases, can put a toll on an individual’s mental or emotional state of mind and Korinek said she was lucky to have the support of her family through every day.

“My family is my rock,” Korinek said.

Korinek said she has been fortunate enough to work out a way to keep up with her classes while attending only one day a week.

Christine Gabel, a Clinical Assistant Professor and one of Korinek’s instructors, worked with Korinek and other department members to adapt to Korinek’s disability.

Professors are able to record lectures and Skype with Korinek so she can stay on track with classwork.

“She is a good student,  and we knew that she would work hard at this,” Gabel said. “Technology has made a big difference. We are able to record and send things to her on days she is not here.”

Last spring Korinek partnered with a website called HealClick.com. The website is designed for patients of chronic illnesses to interact and share their personal stories.  She said the website was created by patients for patients. The website launched on Jan. 14.

Co-founder Joey Tuan was diagnosed with myalgia encephalomyelitis in 2006. He was later also diagnosed with Lyme disease and POTS.

After discovering there was no FDA-approved treatments for his diseases, Tuan decided to take matters into his own hands.

Tuan partnered with Cari Allshouse, and together they found HealClick.com. The confidential website is designed for patients diagnosed with a chronic illness. It allows people to look for treatments that worked for others with similar symptoms.

“I had to jump from forum to forum, and saw that patients with the same diagnosis often have different symptoms, treatments, labs and genetics,” Tuan said. “Through sheer luck, I learned of a treatment from another patient which ultimately helped me.”

Tuan partnered with Cari Allshouse, and together they founded HealClick.com. The confidential website is designed for patients diagnosed with a chronic illness to turn to. It allows people to look for treatments that worked for others with their similar symptoms.

“After I got better, I set two goals: to help patients share treatment experience in a smarter way and then turn all these experiences into medical research,” Tuan said.

Users can make an account on the website and list what diseases they have and the symptoms they have experienced. From there, users can post on a treatment board, participate in group chats and talk to people who have the same diseases and symptoms.

“We take pride in offering a different patient experience,” Tuan said. “Warm, user-friendly and personalized are all experiences that we had trouble finding on other websites.”

HealClick is a project the co-founders had been working on for a couple of years. The team went full force last year to finish the project.

When the website launched on Jan. 14, it had about 900 users. This past week the site had more than 1,900 users with more than 1,400 treatment reviews.

“It’s a website made by patients for patients,” Korinek said.