Foundation Views

ARDS Foundation Thanks You for a Great Year!
December 2008

To the ARDS Community,

December, 2008 marks the eighth year anniversary for ARDS Foundation.
Back in 2000, when Paula Blonski and I met we were advised by many not to form ARDS Foundation. We were told that without a funding source and a large volume of volunteers, it would be a doomed endeavor. But Paula and I something those folks could not quantify: passion.

Back then, our only goal was to raise enough funds to create a simple but informative brochure. Once we published our brochure, we put a simple website online. The website contained only five pages… but quickly, we grew. Today the ARDS Foundation includes over 200 informative web pages with medical articles, links to physician website, ARDS stories, brochures, a children’s page, and more.

ARDS Foundation partners with other organization to continue to do as much as possible to educate, inform and increase awareness. But truth be told, the progress with the treatment of ARDS has not significantly changed in the last eight years. Still, each year in the United States, ARDS is diagnosed in almost 200,000 men, woman and children; still over 40% will die. A while research has increased, there is still no prevention and certainly there is no cure. ARDS patients are always critically ill, and most families will be told at some point during their loved one’s hospitalization, that they likely will not survive.

Still at this time of year, ARDS Foundation wants to focus on the many ARDS miracles as well as honoring the memory of those who did not survive. While no one wants to become a member of the ARDS community, ARDS Foundation is here to ensure that anyone who finds themselves a member, has information, support, prayers and knows that they are not alone.

ARDS Foundation would not still exist without the support of you, the members of this community. We are confident that in 2009, we will continue to make strides. And so it is with our sincere gratitude that I thank you and personally wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Eileen Rubin Zacharias, President