“I just felt like running.”
Running my FIRST MARATHON to raise awareness for CTEPH and to RAISE MONEY for the Women’s Audio Mission!!
Oh yea, I also had a rib resection surgery in May. A rib resection surgery is where they remove a rib from your body. In my case my first, uppermost rib on my left side.
Why?
Well in my case, this rib was pinching my subclavian vein which then shot off tiny blood clots which landed in my lungs and created CTEPH. Remove the rib, stop the new blood clots, and hopefully never have to do that PTE surgery again!
This seems a little crazy. Why am I doing this?
As you may know last November I had open heart PTE surgery. It was pretty gnarly, to say the least. Here’s my LinkedIn post about it. Here’s the TLDR:
PTE surgery is a 12hr procedure where your body is cooled to 65* and you’re opened up at the chest. They cool you to 65* because they need to stop the heart/lung bypass machine, keeping you alive, for 30min at a time to allow the surgeon the opportunity to scrape out all of the scar tissue in your lung blood vessels. I had complications which required me to be “opened up” a second time and spent 5 full days being intubated before they brought me back to life. It took me days until I was cleared to eat. Weeks to fully speak again. But the next day - I walked. I walked because I had to. It was the only way to bring oxygen back in my lungs and not go back on the intubator.
And then… I walked, a lot. It was the only physical activity I could do. It helped me breathe better. Helped me feel better. While I walked I listened to audiobooks. One book in particular inspired me. Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.
That book inspired me to set a goal that may seem unachievable to some, but that I knew deep down I could do. I decided while walking my allotted 1-2 miles one day that within 1 year of my PTE surgery, I would complete a marathon. Because - why not? That’s why.
I’m not going for a good time. With my lungs in the shape they’re currently in, I’m just hoping I’ll have enough stamina to finish!
So, as that day (November 7th) approaches, I’ve created this site.
The goal?
To raise awareness for CTEPH - the condition that caused this entire journey for me. And…
To raise as much money as we can for the Women’s Audio Mission! Women’s Audio Mission is a truly inspiring organization that does tremendous work in bringing women and gender expansive folks to STEAM and more specifically to the sound engineering rooms. I also sit on the board of this great organization. I’ll be matching the first $3,000 in donations - so please help us amplify the impact of your donation and donate today.
It would mean a lot to me to have your support as I embark on this next stage of my post PTE journey - my second life! So please donate!