07/11/2025
This is really special special for all that are undiagnosed, which can be months to years or decades of time. Every rare disease patient, including autoinflammatory disease patients have experienced. Please read about Indigo, the new mascot for the Undiagnosed Diseases Network Foundation , dedicated to patients seeking a diagnosis. 💙🤍
🟣 Introducing Indigo the Bunting: Your Songbird ⚪
The UDNF is proud to introduce Indigo the Bunting, a symbol created by and for the undiagnosed community.
We recognize the uncertainty, the unanswered questions, and the emotional weight that can come with living in the space between symptoms and answers. If you are still searching, still meeting with specialists, still being told your story doesn’t quite fit — please know this: you are not alone.
We wanted to give you a meaningful symbol that represents your story and experiences living with an undiagnosed disease.
A symbol to help spark conversation.
A symbol to rally around for advocacy and connection, because you are not alone in this.
Now, there’s Indigo the Bunting, a small songbird with brilliant indigo feathers with shimmering silver-tipped wings and beak. Indigo represents the mystery of undiagnosed diseases, the search for answers, and the hope that science brings.
Use Indigo as a way to share your story, raise awareness, advocate, and connect with others walking a similar path.
🧭 Why Indigo? Why Silver? Why a Bunting?
Indigo was designed with care by the undiagnosed community to reflect the complexity of life without a diagnosis—and the hope of a future that leads to a diagnosis and treatment.
Created by Dana Sayer, UDNF Patient Navigator and our talented visual storyteller, Indigo carries the heart of this work. As Dana passionately said, “I want to see my participants take off and soar.”
🌌Indigo buntings for the path of uncertainty and discovery.
In the shadows, male indigo buntings appear black or gray—nearly invisible. But when the sunlight hits just right, their feathers shine a brilliant indigo.
Even when answers aren’t visible, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Sometimes it just takes the right light—or a new perspective—to see them.
Indigo Buntings are nocturnal navigators, migrating by starlight, guided by patterns they’ve never seen before. Even without a map, they find their way.
When there is no map, they follow the stars and create their own path.
Much like undiagnosed patients and their doctors, who often end up forging their own path in the search for a diagnosis.
🟣Indigo for the mystery.
Indigo sits between blue and violet on the color spectrum, mirroring the uncertain space between symptoms and diagnosis.
Indigo is often described as a color that’s seen differently by everyone. Some will see blue. Some will see purple. Some will see the in-between indigo.
Much like how symptoms are interpreted, missed, or argued over when looked at through different lenses.
Look around in nature, and you’ll have a hard time finding indigo. It’s one of the rarest colors in nature.
Some undiagnosed individuals may spend years or even a lifetime looking for their diagnosis because it is so rare that they are a patient of one.
⚪Silver for the science, progress, and hope.
Silver evokes a feeling of modernity, innovation, advancement, and the future.
Silver represents the science and research that moves us forward.
There is a silver lining in the continued research advancing precision medicine, genomics, and diagnostics to give faster answers for the undiagnosed.
