Never Alone for the Holidays

December 06,2016

The holiday season kicked off here in the US with Thanksgiving, and now in December, around the world we are rolling into a time of great of celebration and cheer that crosses religions and political borders.

I don’t need to remind any of our readers about how grateful those with pulmonary hypertension are to spend another holiday season with their families and loved ones. We lost a great many of PHriends this year to PH, including our dear Cynthia Carr just a few days ago on December 1st. She will be sorely missed.

Every month we have to place another memorial on our Facebook wall, saying “breathe easy” to a lost one. I haven’t even finished this month’s letter, and I unfortunately just received news of yet another PHighter who passed away today.

It isn’t fair or easy to lose a loved one to PH or cancer or for any other reason, especially during the holidays.

My letter this month is to those of you in the PH community who have lost a loved one to this horrible disease that has in its own strange way united us. I know there are no comforting words to bring back your loved one or to restore the future days taken away, unfulfilled and empty.

Please know, and hold in your heart, that we will continue to fight, and train, and race until we reach the finish line. I will keep working with our sponsors to fund patient-centered programs. Our athletes will train hard and also keep reaching out to family, coworkers, and friends to raise awareness and donations. Our friends in the community will keep working hard to organize walks and other events where patients can get out and have some fun hanging out.

We at Team PHenomenal Hope, through our Board of Directors and volunteers, will keep moving to grow a strong and good organization that works hard to meet the needs of those living with PH – those known and those needs left unmet, to support research into treatments and a cure, and to provide support where we can to similar groups around the world.

We will work until the race is done. And I will not forget those of you caregivers and family members and friends who suffered the loss of a patient with PH. We work for you, as well. You are not alone in your pain and grief. You will always be welcomed at Team PHenomenal Hope.

And to those of you who are blessed to mark another holiday season – I wish you good cheer and love, and the hope of many, many, many more to come in the embrace of your loved ones and PHriends.

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