#heart2cureph

Saturday I attended a Celebration of Life ceremony for one of the greatest people I have ever had the honor of knowing. My beautiful friend, Nichole Holland Bardwell, who gained her wings on August 22nd. 

To know Nichole was to love her. She was one of those people that made you want to be a better person. She was honesty, loyalty, faithfulness. She was strength, courage, and hope. Beautiful inside and out. She was a hugger. She loved poo emojis and unicorns. She advocated for the underprivileged kids at her job. She was wise beyond her years. Intelligent. To be honest, there just aren’t enough words in the English language to describe the type of person that Nichole was or the love and light that she brought to everyone who knew her. 

Nichole was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension just three days after marrying her best friend. She took on this disease like she did everything else in her life. With courage, confidence, and humor. She would post statuses to her social network accounts that would have you laughing and crying at the same time. She PHought! She loved. She laughed. And at times, she cried. But she was the strongest, bravest, most beautiful soul. I cannot reiterate enough how strong, how brave, or how beautiful she truly was. 

After being diagnosed with PAH, she started a blog. You can learn from Nichole what this disease is, in layman’s terms, by reading her story. 

phightlikeagirlnichole.wordpress.com

Nichole wanted to raise awareness for PAH/PH. She also wanted to learn as much as she possibly could and meet others who were phighting this same disease. She attended conferences. She joined online support groups. She may no longer be here to carry on this phight but there are so many others that are still phighting. For those of you that are, I am sending you so many prayers and so much love. As Nichole would say, “Bring it in!” (Hugs).....

Please learn more about Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension/Pulmonary Hypertension here:

www.PHAssociation.org and www.SometimesItsPH.org and www.PHANews.org

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with PH, join the online community “My PHA” at www.myPHAssociation.org

Donate to the Heart 2 Cure PH campaign by texting “PHA” to 56512.