Debbie, Dr. Mathai and Kojo...

First it was PHA board member Steve White, Generation Hope leader Coleen Brunetti and Yale's Dr. Terrence Trow, now PHA's own Director of Volunteer Services, Debbie Castro and Johns Hopkins physician and PHA research award grantee, Dr. Stephen Mathai are hitting the NPR airwaves.

Here are the details about tomorrow's show...

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association will be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show, a local D.C.-area National Public Radio (NPR) program, on Wednesday, February 2 at 1 p.m. ET. If you are local you can listen on the radio at 88.5, otherwise listen online at www.WAMU.org. With 700,000 listeners, the show will help us raise awareness about the disease and PHA's work with the PH community. They are dedicating the entire show to pulmonary hypertension, and the program includes a listener call-in segment, so get your questions and comments ready!


Show Details

Kojo Nnamdi Show

Wednesday, February 2

1:00 p.m. ET (will probably begin around 1:15 p.m. ET)

Listen: WAMU, 88.5 OR www.WAMU.org

Panel: PHA staff member Debbie Castro, PH specialist Dr. Stephen Mathai from Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Gregory Kato of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

Includes a listener call-in segment: 800-433-8850; anyone can listen and call in

Calling in the chips for awareness...

Today is PH Awareness Month Blog Day...and I can't think of a better awareness story to blog about than what PHA board member Steve White brought to pass this past week. 

Faith Middleton is a Peabody Award winning (twice) broadcast journalist on Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network.  Dialing back to May 21, 1968, she was a student at Eastern Connecticut State College, a year ahead of Steve White.  For an article she was writing, she convinced the freshman to wear a barrel as part of the Eastern State College Dream Boy contest.  The scene was that Steve was disqualified from the contest due to the fish odor in the barrel.  Faith got her story...and Steve banked a favor due.

Forty-two years later, Rev. White found the picture of that interview and wrote to Faith - who he hadn't seen since college.  He opened the letter with,

"You owe me a big favor and I'm writing to call in the chips."

Well, Faith Middleton paid her debt with style and feeling - and in a big way.  Steve spoke about his daughter, Christen, and PH.  Dr. Terrence Trow who heads up the PH Center at Yale and Colleen Brunetti, an organizer of PHA's Generation Hope young patient group were interviewed in depth...and the interview has been posted online, where you can click on the player and hear it now. 

It's a great interview with a great lesson.  Good things can happen when you make the time to ask.