Help mark PH Awareness Month by carrying the virtual “Flame of Hope” in your state.
PHA board member Diane Ramirez, who underwent a heart and lung transplant in September 2023, aims to raise at least $4,000 by Nov. 10.
“The transplant has helped me move forward from PAH and given me a second chance at life,” Ramirez says on her fundraising page. “With this new life and energy, I am walking 100 miles to raise awareness.”
Ramirez works toward her goal by walking about five miles a day on the treadmill at her local YMCA, the Lexington Dispatch reports. She encourages others to join her virtually on her Flame of Hope walk and share their experiences on social media. So far, PHA board members Doug Taylor and Monica Penaranda have joined Ramirez from South Carolina and California.
“I am hoping to have this Flame of Hope carried in as many states as possible, so please let me know when you walk,” Ramirez says. “If you can’t walk and do a different activity, that’s OK. Help me spread some hope.”
Ramirez, who began her walk Oct. 10, was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension when in 1987. By spring 2022, she felt sicker and weaker than she’d been since her diagnosis, she says. Ramirez shared her transplant story in Pathlight, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s member magazine, in August.
“I had days where I wasn’t doing anything, wearing 10-12 liters of oxygen, and I was still short of breath,” says Ramirez, 61, of Lexington, North Carolina. “I couldn’t take a shower without oxygen, and I had to sit to dry myself off and catch my breath. It was very scary.”
Since the transplant, Ramirez says her life has changed completely. But she will always be part of the PH community.
“I may not have PH anymore, but I’m still here,” she says. “I still do advocacy and awareness for PH, and I have no intention of stopping. The illness hasn’t changed, and I have lost a brother and two sisters to pulmonary hypertension.”
Nearly a year after surgery, Ramirez sometimes is surprised by what her body can do.
“I knew I was going to be better. I just didn’t think I would be so much better so soon.”
Join Ramirez in raising PH awareness through her virtual Flame of Hope walk.
