My name is Sherri Nagle and I live in Clarkston, Washington with my husband, Alfie Nagle (a member of the Clearwater/Potlatch family), and together we have a beautiful daughter named Hannah. On January 3, 2008, I was diagnosed with a very rare lung disease that seems to only strike women in their child bearing years. It’s called Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM, for short. There is no known cure and no effective treatment at this time. The only possible solution (which is a last resort) is a lung transplant. A transplant is by no means a cure. It’s just a treatment in which you exchange one set of issues for another. A lot of research is constantly being done which gives us women a glimmer of hope so hopefully scientists will come up with a breakthrough soon. This disease is genetic and not hereditary, which is wonderful news, but it causes all kinds of problems. The main symptom of LAM is a shortness of breath upon exertion. The problem with that is that it never gets any better, only steadily worse. It seems to progress at different rates for each individual woman. There is a gene in our system that mutates and causes smooth muscle cell tissue to grow in our lungs, taking up the space of the little alveoli that help us convert oxygen and breathe properly. The more cells that grow, the less our lungs function properly and the more we huff and puff for air. The other major symptom, or problem, is that there is a risk for lung collapse and once it happens we are more prone for it to reoccur over and over again.
Sherri's blog: http://cherishedair.com/
more information about Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (from Wikipedia):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
