The American Lung Association puts on an event every year called the Asthma Walk, which is a fundraising event, the proceeds of which do things like provide for Camp Not-A-Wheeze, where kids that have asthma have an opportunity to go and run and play and learn how to take care of their condition. It provides resources for research, research that might ultimately lead to new technology, new medicine, and I kind of inadvertently found out about the Asthma Walk. I guess that was about five years ago now through my specialist and thought, this sounds like an awesome opportunity to give back.
And I got involved with the Asthma Walk and was really passionate about fundraising and raised a tremendous amount of money, which made me noticeable, I guess, to the American Lung Association. And so I started interacting heavily with the American Lung Association, and they started inviting me to tell my story to impassion others to get involved and participate in the Walk, and it’s just kind of blossomed from there.
I actively participate with the Asthma Walk every year. I fundraise relentlessly. I harass people relentlessly, tell people about asthma, tell people about the Asthma Walk, tell them about the American Lung Association, and it’s just kind of a never-ending cycle. Consequently, the American Lung Association calls on me to do things like super-cool interviews for EmpowHer, interviews with the news, magazine clipping, anywhere that there’s an opportunity to talk about my experience, and they provide that opportunity to me. I jump on it, and I go for it.
They are a terrific organization, and they have given me an outlet through which I can express my passion, and an outlet through which I can say thank you and give back to that process that allowed me to be where I am today.