The FH Global Community came together to increase awareness of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) on FH Awareness Day. Thank you for your amazing contributions!
You helped us reached over 23 million people on social media through the #KnowFH and #FHCantWait hashtags by sharing infographics, clinical articles, videos and podcasts on FH. The FH Foundation’s annual Tweet-a-Thon generated over 2,300 tweets in the North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.

Every person you find can change the life of an entire family!

A special thank you to all of our supporters and partners who helped make this year a success, including the FH Advocates for Awareness, CASCADE FH Registry Sites, American Heart Association, International Atherosclerosis Society, Million Hearts and industry partners.
Winning the 2018 Race for FH

The 2018 Race for FH crossed the finish line on FH Awareness Day, September 24 and helped us raise over $91,000. Nearly 120 participants ran, biked, climbed and challenged themselves to show their community what FH means to them.

Thank you to all of the the participants and donors. Your dedication and commitment to helping the FH Foundation continue our work of providing the research, education and advocacy needed to win against FH is inspiring. This is a tremendous accomplishment and you have our deepest gratitude.
 
In the coming months, we will announce our plans for the 2019 Race for FH which will occur in the Spring. Until then, we hope that you will get involved with these other opportunities !
Convening the FH Global Community at the FH Global Summit

The FH Foundation convened more than 280 people from 24 countries including clinicians, researchers and individuals with FH for the sixth annual FH Global Summit in Marina del Rey, CA on October 1 st & 2 nd. We commemorated the 20-year anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, which recognized FH as a public health concern. Together, we focused on understanding the barriers to implementation of the WHO recommendations and determined how to accelerate the uptake of evidenced-based care into clinical practice and health policy.

We were united by one goal – putting an end to premature heart disease and death by making early diagnosis and treatment of FH a reality.

A full recap of this year’s event will be featured in a special newsletter in November.
Why are individuals with FH and heart disease still encountering insurance denials for treatment?
This question sparked a New York Times feature by Gina Kolata. It is also a question that the FH Foundation team answered over multiple interviews and through background information and studies. A year and a half after our original Circulation article highlighted that 62% of individuals with FH and severe coronary disease are being denied coverage for PCSK9 inhibitors, very little has changed.

This is why the FH Foundation asked Mackenzie Ames, an FH Advocate for Awareness, and Rodney Scheidel, a patient of Dr. Keith Ferdinand’s, to share their stories with the reporter. Our goal was simple – to ensure that the general public understands that real people, living at high risk of early heart disease, are being denied the opportunity for prevention through a historical lack of access to treatment and a burdensome insurance process.

FH Can’t Wait. Please share this article to help us advocate for change. If you are encountering issues with obtaining access to therapy, email or call our team at (626) 583-4674. We are here to help.