Thank you for Making 2017 Such a Special Year
Thank you for making 2017 such a special year.
As the year draws to a final close, I want to thank all of the amazing folks who have helped us work towards our goals in 2017.
We had so many people help us in so many ways. There were countless volunteer hours given by patients and friends; training, racing, and fundraising hours given by our US, Brazil, Germany, and Mexico athlete teams; event coordination and effort from leaders in the PH community like Julia Feitner and our energizing supporters over at Northwestern Mutual – especially Joe Hoover and Kevin Yeargers; and there was such generous financial support from so many regional and national sponsors, athletes, patients, friends, family, and even matching corporate gifts!
I should point out: no donation is too small. We had over 300 donations of $25 or less. Wow! Through the hard work of our athletes and fundraising event coordinators, we raised over $80,000 for medical research – just in 2017. That is wonderful.
Speaking of the athletes, in 2017 our US Team athletes raced more than 7,650 miles in their efforts to beat pulmonary hypertension. That is our highest yearly total to date and puts us so close to having raced 22,000 combined miles since 2014!
How close? Just about one marathon away – 27 miles. Seriously. One marathon. I know there is someone out there reading this right now who could run that marathon, to get us there. I hope to hear from you.
It is really very humbling to work for such a terrific community of people, especially at the end of the year when we naturally tend to undergo review and assessment. There is intense competition from many worthwhile organizations, seeking your volunteer hours and donations. But to think that the PH community has supported Team PHenomenal Hope in such a way is truly inspiring.
Every $10 donation, every mile walked in a PH5K, each step trained and raced by our athletes – it adds up to something very special.
Special because it helped us build a coalition of amazing partners to provide direct assistance to 80 people living with PH who needed financial help after the devastating 2017 hurricane season. Thank you, phaware global, Gilead, Blue Lips Foundation, and Reata!
Special because it helped us in 2017 to share almost 70 stories of life with PH and athlete reports of racing to beat PH; these are stories of hope, voices being made available for those in today and in the future to read about life with PH.
Special in the way that we have raced for over three dozen specific individuals who partnered with members of the US Team in our #LetMeBeYourLungs Program.
Special in the way that we consulted with and supported grassroots teams in other countries, who represented 40 combined Team PH Global athletes who trained and raced for patients and worked to raise awareness in their communities.
Special because it helped us over the last 18 months to raise almost $132,000 for medical research into improved treatments or a cure for pulmonary hypertension, and build a platform for an even stronger 2018.
With great joy, I thank all of you who supported Team PHenomenal Hope in 2017, as athletes, volunteers, patients, board members, sponsors, and friends.
Thank you, and I wish you all a happy holiday season.
