Cross Country Adventure Brings Awareness to Cure HHT
Monkton, Maryland (PRWEB) September 25, 2014 -- Cure HHT (also known as HHT Foundation International, Inc.) will be cheering Dan Zimmerman on during his cross-country journey to raise awareness for HHT. On June 29th, in honor of National HHT Awareness Month, Dan started his 5,200 adventure in Anacortes, Washington. His trip will take him through 15 different states and conclude in Key West, Florida. St. Louis is the approximate half-way point of his journey. Dan and his crew will take the opportunity to reenergize on Friday, September 26th and Saturday, September 27th, before embarking on the second half of their trip Sunday morning.
Dan Zimmerman has HHT disease and at the age of 41, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right arm, leg and damaged the left side of his brain. Dan was diagnosed with HHT disease in the mid-80’s after his brother’s death from HHT at age 19. When Dan suffered his stroke in 2005, his doctor told him that he would never walk or talk again. Angry, Dan knew he had two choices, give up or fight. He chose to fight. Dan knew that recovery would be a life-long process; he decided to give it everything he had and to raise awareness about the affects of HHT disease. It took more than a year before Dan could speak and three years before he could spell simple words. In 2008, wanting to be more mobile than his wheelchair allowed, Dan began to ride a recumbent trike to aid in his recovery. Dan says, “Cycling has improved my health and more importantly, given me a purpose in life.”
HHT disease, often labeled the silent killer, affects the lives of more than 1.4 million people worldwide. HHT does not discriminate and most are unaware that "nosebleeds in the family" can be something much more and potentially life-threatening. 90% of the people will go undiagnosed. If diagnosed, HHT is treatable. Cure HHT is the only patient advocacy organization in the world dedicated to educating, improving access, increasing standards of care, advancing treatments and raising awareness about HHT disease.
For more information go to http://www.curehht.org on Facebook and Twitter.
Marianne Clancy, Cure HHT, http://www.CureHHT.org, +1 410-357-9932, [email protected]
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