After a week plus hiatus, I finally got back in the pool for several training swims this week. Amazingly, I didn't sink, but in the short hour that I swam, another 5 people died from Pulmonary Fibrosis and 6 more people were diagnosed with this incurable, untreatable disease which gradually (or rapidly) robs its victims of their ability to breathe.
Pulmonary Fibrosis is scarring of the lungs, typically from unknown causes. Two-thirds of Pulmonary Fibrosis patients die within 5 years of diagnosis. Without a cure or treatment, the survival rate is effectively zero.
Pulmonary Fibrosis kills 40,000 people each year, the same number as breast cancer.
University of Texas research Hua Tang, PhD, was recently awarded at $377k NIH grant to study the protein kinase D (PKD), which may have some effect on Pulmonary Fibrosis development. Click here to read more about Tang's Pulmonary Fibrosis study award.
What can you do to help? Use the buttons below to share this blog post with your friends to help raise awareness about Pulmonary Fibrosis or drown me in donations for my Swim to Breathe fund raising campaign.
Treasure each breath, treasure each moment!
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