It been a busy start to 2022 for a Wichita startup geared toward helping the chronically ill connect with resources.
Co-Immunity, a finalist in the 2022 Wichita Inno Madness contest, was started in 2022 by Madeline Shonka.
As she has previously detailed for the WBJ, the idea for her startup came through her own journey with lupus and narcolepsy with cataplexy.
“I tried find resources and there really just were none,” she told the WBJ.
Since starting her nonprofit startup, her outreach efforts have continued to grow, including several new additions in the first quarter of 2022.
Co-Immunity has recently launched a new CoVstat Symptom Tracking app now available in both the Apple and Android store.
Shonka has also started a podcast — ChronicILLS — which features guests from the chronically ill community.
In addition, Co-Immunity has boosted its social media outreach and education by 400 people in the past three months and also started a community on instant messaging platform Discord to help further connect and educate.
Co-Immunity also continues to accept donations, which can be made online.
And be sure and vote in the final round of Inno Madness, which features Co-Immunity and Lawn Buddy.
But even long after the contest, you can be sure that Shonka will continue her mission of helping others in the ways she once sought herself.
“We want to show them they can live real lives with their chronic illness,” Shonka previously told the WBJ. “We have to make the problem known and solve it.”
