"Help for IPF"

“Your dad and I just got home from the doctor,” says Jane.  “The doctor said your dad has trouble breathing because he is getting a bit older and needs to slow down.  He is 69 years old and the doctor, the medically-trained doctor says your dad needs to just slow down.”

This ever happen?  You better believe it did and unfortunately the results of this visit was the relaxation of my dad into thinking things might not be so bad.  Besides, he was retired and could afford to slow down.  What the doctor failed to do, or mention, is the fact that Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) was lingering in the not-so-distant future and less than 6 months after this visit my family & I would say our goodbyes.

IPF is a deadly disease that is often overlooked and mis-understood.  The US government rarely puts money into research as it doesn’t have the backing of “heart disease”, “cancer”, or “obesity.”  We recognize that yes, all three of these previous diseases are deadly and deserve the attention but they are no less deadly than IPF.  A disease without a cure is a death sentence and today we focus our attention numbers and not humanity.  With IPF, we not only lack a cure but we lack an understanding of the cause hence not knowing if our children will see the same fate or not.

Here at Help for IPF, we just want the word to get out that we want more attention.  We want every person’s story told in absolutely excruating detail possible… so that maybe the World Health Organization (WHO) or government health leaders will recognize that maybe not funding a cure is not in order but not knowing the cause is unacceptable.

With 2 easy steps, you can post your story here for the world to know:

1. Create an Help for IPF account
2. Post your Story

We also support discussion forums where patients, families, and medical staff can support each other when this terminal disease strikes you or your loved one.

This is a post talking about the time spent watching my father slowly die from IPF.