Today, May 5^th, is a very important day. This day marks the unification of organizations, communities, and patients worldwide in efforts to increase the awareness of the rapidly progressive disease that's affecting many individuals across the globe:

Most don’t realize that Pulmonary Hypertension (PH), a disease characterized by high blood pressure in the lung, has symptoms that are often non-specific. The symptoms like breathlessness, dizziness, and chest pain can reflect other medical conditions making proper diagnosis and early detection quite difficult. Once specialized tests are conducted at a doctor’s visit, a patient can then be certain of a diagnosis but sadly won’t be able to receive a magical treatment that can reverse the diagnosis and rid their bodies of this disease.

--Today there is no known cure for Pulmonary Hypertension. The lives of those living with this disease are changed drastically.--

Today is World Pulmonary Hypertension Day. Organizations and facilities all over the world want to encourage the public to become educated on the symptoms of the disease and on the importance of early detection. Education is a vital tool that can lessen not only the numbers of PH diagnoses, but also the psychological and personal challenges a PH patient faces.

Promoting education and early detection is only one significant characterisitic of World Pulmonary Hypertension Day.  Today also illustrates that ground breaking research can be accelerated and can reach it's highest potential when associations, researchers, and doctors coloborate across borders and overseas; transferring vital information to one another and instigating efficient teamwork.

Thus teamwork, whether on a global scale, a state scale, a local scale, or even on a family scale, can make a grand impact. Today I encougrage you all to take some time to educate yourself on Pulmonary Hypertension and to also explore how your community is participating in World Pulmonary Hypertension Day. How will you encourage awareness today? Live boldly, Julie