Featured Campaign: Mississippi River Swim
Determination in the Delta:
Meeting the Challenge of Pulmonary Hypertension
The Long Battle for Nicky
PH patient Elizabeth ‘Lil’ Battle Long’s name says it all — she’s faced a very long battle. On Saturday, September 11, 2010, Lil reached a milestone in that battle when she triumphantly swam across the Mississippi River during an event she dubbed "The Long Battle for Nicky."
The event’s name honors her own struggles and pays tribute to her friend, Nicky Roberts, who lost her battle with PH in 2007. Lil received her own PH diagnosis in June 2009, and following the initial shock, Lil made significant health and fitness changes and began daily swimming exercises. Her husband Henry Earl was so impressed with her progress that he soon began telling people she’d be capable of swimming across the Mississippi River in a year’s time. Lil took his words to heart and never looked back.
Read the full story of Lil's determination and triumph
Read the Winter 2011 Pathlight feature interview
Determination in the Delta - The Video
Lil's PH journey and her momentous swim have been captured on film. Watch the story unfold: one of determination and bold living in the face of a life-altering illness.
Meeting the Challenge Together
As a community whose lives have been affected by PH, we have the unique opportunity to transform hope into reality for ourselves and for others.
We invite you to draw inspiration from this PH patient's triumph and find your own way to be undeterred by the tides of PH! Fighting back can mean different things at different times to different people - and that's OK! Here are some options for getting started down that path: