Foundation Views

WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER ?
September 2008

by Eileen Rubin Zacharias

To the ARDS Community,

This message is directly for you, those who know what it is to watch their loved ones in the hospital for days, weeks or months. Those who completely comprehend the uncertainty. Those who ride the ARDS roller coaster over and over again while their loved one is hospitalized.. During the crisis, many loved one would, and sometimes do, offer anything and everything if only they could find information, support and maybe even an answer or two. But ARDS Foundation offers informative brochures, the use of the website and message board and support free of charge.

This message is also for all of those ARDS survivors who pledge to do something to make a difference in the fight against ARDS. They understand how sick they were and how many people were instrumental in their survival. And at that moment, they would do anything to give back.

The crisis passes. People forget the deadly nature of ARDS. Understandably, sometimes it is easier to go on by forgetting. Survivors often just want their lives to get back to where it was prior to their hospitalization. So do their families...

And then the excuses come in... At any given event ARDS Foundation hosts or participates in, those same folks are out of town. Or they just can not make it. Or they do not respond to requests for help and support. Still day after day, ARDS Foundation always replies to requests for information and support.

Sometimes they profess that they cannot participate due to a lack of funds. But anyone can participate even without little money. Signing up for this Hike is only a $10 sign up fee. After that, those same people in the ARDS Community can request sponsors. If those people do not reside near the event, they can participate by doing a 'virtual hike' and still raise funds for ARDS, something that each and everyone of you know is too little funded given the huge number of people each year who are diagnosed. People can even help if they have no money to give at all. They can contact everyone they know, tell their story, express how ARDS Foundation may have helped them or their loved ones and ask that they sponsor ARDS Foundation in their honor.

This message is also for all of those medical professionals who treat ARDS patients, be it doctors, nurses, therapists. These individual know how exactly what patients and families are dealing with and while a very few medical professionals have sponsored ARDS Foundation or one of their participants, still, not one person who is actively involved in the treatment of ARDS is signed up to hike, in person or via a virtual hike.

It is troubling to say the least. Somehow the breast cancer folks get hundreds of people to raise money and walk to fight breast cancer. And it helps. There have been incredible advances in the treatment of breast cancer. With ARDS, there is little dedication. And likewise, there has been little progress for over a decade. Worse yet, more people are diagnosed with ARDS then breast cancer each year and more people die due to ARDS.

ARDS Foundation is set up to offer information, support, prayers, funding for research, and more. Everything we do, we do as volunteers and we do this without charging anyone a penny. But we just cannot do this alone.

I admit it is upsetting. I do not expect others to be as dedicated as I am to this cause but it is you, the members of the ARDS Community, who can do something, anything, to make a difference. This includes all of you: family and friends, patients and medical professionals. So I ask you the question that I once asked myself: 'Could I live with myself if I did nothing to make a difference and one of my loved ones was diagnosed with ARDS?' My own answer to an emphatic 'NO'
What is your answer?

Please join the ARDS Foundation's team this year for the Hike for Lung Health Walk, or to sponsor ARDS Foundation of one of its volunteers