Three nonprofit organizations launch campaign to increase national awareness of PF

The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Association of Texas today announced the launch of a special, grassroots campaign to build increased national awareness of Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF).  "Blue Shirt Friday" is the first combined national effort by the three nonprofit organizations that each focus on the fight for treatments and a cure for the fatal lung disease that takes as many lives each year as breast cancer (40,000).  People will be encouraged to buy a special blue tee shirt and wear it each Friday in 2010 in recognition of the struggle of tens of thousands of patients who suffer from the untreatable disease.

The shirts convey a simple but urgent message.  The front of the blue shirt reads "Every 13 minutes someone…" with the back of the shirt continuing "…dies of pulmonary fibrosis".  A graphic representation of one healthy lung and one dark and shrunken lung (how the lung appears with PF) illustrates the impact of PF. The logos and websites of the three organizations are also represented on the back.

Given the relentlessness of pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and irreversible scarring of the lungs, lack of any current treatments, and the increasing number of patients (a 156 percent increase since 2001), the organizations' combined voice is vital to spread the word about the disease and to the campaign's success.  An important intended outcome of the effort is that increased public awareness will lead to increased funding for research.

The three leaders of the organizations, Leanne Storch, Mishka Michon and Jan Orndorff, issued a joint statement about their combined effort:   "We will do whatever is necessary to bring awareness to a disease that has such terrible consequences for so many people.  Working together to tell this story to the world makes us even more effective at communicating the need for solutions."  

The organizations have links to the special tee shirt website( www.BlueShirtsforPF.com), from each of their respective websites: www.coalitionforpf.org,  www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org; and  www.pfatx.org. Shirts are $20 and net income will be equally distributed amongst the three organizations.

SOURCE Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis