A Letter About Dad

This Father's Day is packed with so much emotion for me. Being recently diagnosed with Familial Hypercholesterolemia has brought me so much closer to my father, after years of feeling very disconnected to him. I have always been very active, fit and careful about what I eat. Not because of FH, I had no idea what that was, but because I wanted to be the exact opposite of my father. I wanted to be healthy and fit.

My father had his first heart attack at 32, but back in 1984 the doctors said it was because he smoked, didn't eat right, and was over worked. He tried to eat right and attempted to quit smoking, but he had another heart attack 2 years later. I think he figured it was just in his cards and gave up trying to change his life. For years I felt so angry that he just didn't try to help himself. Our relationship suffered, mostly because we just didn't understand what was happening to him. I had no idea my father had a genetic disorder that caused his high cholesterol and put him at much higher risk for early heart disease, or that he could have passed it on to me. I knew I also had high cholesterol, but I really believed that because I worked out every single day, ate well, and took my statin there was no way I would ever have an event. I was so wrong!

I will never forget the day, only 7 months ago, that I called my father just hours after being in the cath lab where I learned I had 2 totally blocked arteries. I was 45 years old. That day I told him what FH was. We both cried almost with a sense of relief, finally knowing why he was so sick, that it wasn't his fault, it wasn't bad luck, it was FH. This knowledge came too late for my father. He has advanced heart disease at 65 and he is in heart failure. But I am so grateful to know about FH, to give my father the gift of peace, to be connected to him in a way we haven't been in years, to understand him. Most importantly, I'm grateful for the gift of knowing that I and his grandchildren have been properly diagnosed, that there are even more treatment options for us, and we will be ok!

Today, I'm asking you to make it possible for the FH Foundation to help families living with FH.

The FH Foundation has given me the knowledge and the power to know the difference between "high cholesterol" and FH. Proper diagnosis and working with doctors who know FH is key for families affected by FH. My family has that now.

That's why I'm asking you to help families living with heart disease. Please donate to support FH research and community programs that make a life-saving difference.

This has been the toughest year of my life but also the best for both of us. I'm grateful for the time I have with my father and I wish all the FH dads out there a very Happy Father's Day. May you have many more.