3 Ways Baseball Legend Bernie Williams Has Been Helping the Pulmonary Fibrosis Cause

Bernie Williams is a baseball legend, most famous for being an outfielder for the New York Yankees. Since retiring from the sport in 2006, Williams has been busy recording jazz albums and was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009. However, he has also been devoting his time to another matter close to his heart: becoming an advocate for pulmonary fibrosis (PF).

MORE: Seven common symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis.

Breathless Campaign
Williams’ father, Bernabé Williams Sr., died from complications of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in 2001. In March, Williams announced that he would be joining the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim as part of their Breathless Campaign, which hopes to educate people about the signs and symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis so that more people can be diagnosed early and receive better treatment. Bernie wrote a guest column for Pulmonary Fibrosis News about his role in the campaign.

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Sin Aliento Campaign
In order to reach out to his fellow Latin community, Williams also participated in the Sin Aliento (out of breath) campaign which sends information about pulmonary fibrosis through emails and texts in Spanish.

Lobbying Congress
Williams wanted to go further than raising awareness about the disease and in June he teamed up with the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation to help lobby members of Congress in order for them to understand the effect living with pulmonary fibrosis has on patients and their families and to increase funding into the disease.

MORE: Young girl awarded prize for pulmonary fibrosis awareness. 

Pulmonary Fibrosis News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.