Team PHenomenal Hope was founded in 2012 by two PH physicians and four friends who chose to take on the most challenging bicycle race in the world, The Race Across America (RAAM), in 2014. Throughout their training, the racers and crew worked together not only to prepare for the race of their lives, but also to raise awareness about pulmonary hypertension and funds to support research. In 2014 Patricia George, Stacie Truszkowski, Anne-Marie Alderson and Ryanne Palermo, crossed the USA in 7 days 7 hours and 15 minutes racing for patients who live with pulmonary hypertension. See story coverage from ABC Nightline.
After RAAM, we realized that although we had crossed the finish line, the larger race against PH was not yet done. The team expanded and brought on more athletes who wanted to devote their athletic endeavors to the PH community, and we partnered even more closely with patients.
We continued to race in high profile races like the Race Across the West, and Boston Marathon, and we started to see athletes from all over the country and world want to get involved.
In 2016 Team PHenomenal Hope launched our first campaign, #LetMeBeYourLungs, pairing athletes with patients so that athletes could race in their honor.
Over those first 3 years, the team raised over $110,000 for PH research and patient services. We also partnered with international friends, and helped launch Team PH Brasil, bringing the Team PH endurance racing group to Brazil as partners. They sought to raise awareness, petition for more medications, and rally the community in our common PH race.
We are embarking on our next chapter, and our organization continues to serve the purpose of broadcasting patient stories, and in so doing we hope to educate people about pulmonary hypertension and strengthen the PH community by letting people know they are not alone.
We are still partnering athletes with patients as pairs for our #LetMeBeYourLungs campaign, and that program continues to grow. We have expanded across the United States and raced on four continents. We have grown to partner with three international teams. We have racers around the world in seven countries wearing our PH colors in local, national, and international events. And we are growing our PHenomenal Impact Fund for Global PH Research, an endowed research fund, so that hopefully one day we can fund medical research to, once and for all, beat pulmonary hypertension.