Frankfort woman stepping it up — literally — to fight lung disease
BY BOB RAKOW Correspondent January 9, 2012 3:28PM
Gamilah Pierre, of Frankfort, will be participating in her fourth Hustle up the Hancock event in February. | Supplied photo
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Updated: February 11, 2012 8:12AM
When she was a child, Gamilah Pierre frequently suffered severe asthma attacks that required her to be hospitalized.
“Needing to catch your breath is something a lot of people haven’t experienced,” Pierre said. “There have been times when I was so exhausted from asthma that I just became frustrated.”
Pierre’s emotions have transformed from frustration to exhilaration as the Frankfort resident prepares to participate in her fourth Hustle Up the Hancock.
More than 4,000 people are expected to participate in the 15th annual race to the top of John Hancock Center to raise more than $1 million for local lung disease research and programs. The event is sponsored by the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.
Pierre participates in the race in honor of everyone who doesn’t have the lung capacity to make the climb, including her father.
Her father frequently watched as his young daughter was helplessly out of breath, and now he knows the feeling: He was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 1998.
“It makes him expend a lot of energy focusing on breathing. We both know how being short of breath can make you tire so easily,” Pierre said.
COPD is a lung disease that causes difficulty breathing and shortness of breath due to airflow blockage and damage to the lungs. It affects 24 million people. Although it is not reversible, it can be managed, according to the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.
For example, Pierre’s father keeps his condition under control by exercising and eating healthy. But he still requires oxygen most of the time, and it’s difficult for him to travel from Texas to see his daughter, she said.
Pierre wishes her father could participate in the climb or be at the top of the Hancock to greet her. Since he can’t, she participates to raise money for research to help people like her father, she said. Each year, she climbs as a Lung Health Champion and raises $1,000.
“I get inspired and actually shock myself once I get to the top,” Pierre said. “I didn’t train in the past, but this year I am training and look forward to knocking minutes off of my time.”
To support Pierre, her fundraising efforts or to offer words of encouragement, visit www.lungchicago.org/gamilahpierre.
For more information about the climb, visit www.lungchicago.org/hustle.
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