I try to bring a camera wherever I go to capture events as they take place and to record those memories. This picture was taken by me at the Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, where my wife was being examined. It is a group of statues outside the hospital of the founding doctors. My mom and my brother were hamming it up to cheer me up.

The reason we were there was due to a strange illness that my wife was stricken with. Audrey was full of energy throughout her life. She was always cheerful and had a kind word for everyone. Everyone loved her; she was that kind of person. Audrey was working at the local WaWa in our town. Audrey loved to meet new people and she really enjoyed her work. When you walked into her store she would have made you an instant friend.

One day Audrey came home from work exhausted and was no better the next day. As the days and weeks passed it became apparent that there was something seriously wrong with her. We had been to the family doctor who prescribed vitamins and bed rest but nothing seemed to work. Our family doctor recommended a pulmonary specialist because Audrey seemed to be out of breath all the time. So off we went. The pulmonary specialist had some suspicions about the cause but wasn’t sure, he thought it might be Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH). He sent us to the Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia. The doctor at the hospital was a specialist in PPH. He put Audrey through a cardiac catheterization to measure the blood pressure between her heart and lungs.

When we first were told Audrey might have PPH, I looked up all I could find about the disease. I discovered that almost everyone diagnosed with PPH passed away within a year. When the doctor confirmed the diagnosis I was heartbroken. I didn’t share this with Audrey or my mom and brother, but they must have seen it on my face because as we were leaving the hospital my mom and brother did their best to raise my spirits. They pretended the statues had come alive and were surrounding them. I got caught up in the shenanigans forgetting my sorrow for a few minutes.

Audrey passed away on October 5, 2001 just about a year after she was diagnosed with that terrible disease, PPH.

I look back at this picture now and then and I am reminded of the love my family had for Audrey and especially for me.

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