It wasn’t until his wife’s diagnosis that a relatively unknown disease became a reality for Randy Wilharber. He had heard the story of her mom’s passing when Meredith was a young girl, but didn’t fully understand what the disease was or what it meant to live with the condition. As Meredith’s family members, Randy and their two kids see the bad and the ugly of the disease every day.
Randy is motivated by how much is still left to be understood about PAH. Since the date of Meredith’s mom’s passing in the early 1990s, research and treatment of the disease has progressed. Dedicated physicians now have an understanding of how to attack the disease and fight back against elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries, but there is much more to do before a cure is found. Meredith, and others who are diagnosed, are at the mercy of medications to slow the progression of the disease. Others, unaware that they possess this condition, are likely to suffer from heart failure and premature death.
Randy and Meredith founded Blue Lips with the vision of advancing research and funding for early detection, new screening methods and early onset treatment. The long-term outlook for those suffering from the disease is greatly improved when treatment begins in the early stages. There is currently a great void in this area of the fight against PAH. Early screening and detection is desperately needed to save the lives (and improve the quality of life) of those who harbor this terrible condition.
Randy is a partner at the Peddicord-Wharton LLP law firm with a practice primarily focused on commercial litigation, product liability, and personal injury.