Terence Hales wants all PF patients and families to experience the renewed faith and hope that he and his family now has. To that end, Terence raised $7,500 in his first fundraising effort, a 5K Run/Walk in New York City's Central Park on May 17, 2008.

Terence's father, Tom Hales, received a life-saving lung transplant late last year after a two-year battle with PF and a rapid decline. "While he was hopeful for a cure, he knew he needed a transplant to survive. Fortunately, he was one of the lucky ones who received the blessing of a double lung transplant," Terence said.

Deciding to turn his excitement over his father's recovery into action for the disease, Terence partnered with the CPF and planned his first fundraiser. It was an easy decision, he says, to choose to raise funds for the CPF. "After coming to terms with the fact that my father had a disease with no known cause and no cure, I began researching the Internet to try and learn more about the disease. In my search I found the CPF," he said.

Through Terence's attendance of a 2007 "Living with IPF" patient event held by the CPF in partnership with Mt. Sinai, Terence learned more about the disease, about patients' struggles and about the need to increase funding. "I realized the CPF could make an impact on my father's chance for survival," he said. "These people are amazing! I found an organization that's actually helping to find a cure," Terence says. "I had to take action and do something about this terrible disease."

Prior to holding the fundraiser, Terence participated in National IPF Awareness Week in September 2007 which drove his commitment to the CPF further. "It reinforced my interest and confidence in the organization's mission," he said. "IPF Week was another way the CPF identified that I could help, other than raising money for the cause."

Through his experience on Capitol Hill, Terence learned more about the CPF. "I was able to gain a better understanding of the limited resources the organization has and yet how much it is still capable of accomplishing," he said.

"CPF was an organization that responded to me, helped provide information, offered support and seemed to be leading the awareness effort. I wanted to give back. I wanted to join the cause, to spread the message and help them realize their mission," Terence said. "We were so fortunate to have the result my father did. I wanted to help others who may have been less fortunate, who are dealing with this or may deal with this in the future."

Terence, a member of the New York Roadrunner's Club, has already set the date for next year's 5K Run/Walk for May 16, 2009. "I'm incredibly proud of our accomplishment, and this is going to become an even bigger event next year."

Terence Shares the Three things he feels made his fundraising effort so successful:

-Personal connection - the fact that I had a personal connection to the cause gave me the passion to enlist others to get involved

-Communications - we sent out to a wide range of people and encouraged everyone to spread the message

-Support - the support of friends, family and others affected by the disease made it really come together. I couldn't have done it without the support of a few key friends who really got involved, recruited others and helped execute our plan.

Here is one of the letters Terence sent to family, friends and colleagues to ask for support of his fundraising effort. Use his letter as a template to start your own fundraising letter!

I'd like to invite you to join me, Eric Chandler and Anne Hogan for the first-ever 5K Run-Walk to support the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPF).

The event will kick-off on Saturday, May 17, 2008, at 10 a.m. in Central Park. Save the date, and stay tuned for details about the event and donation options.

As many of you know, my father was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis: a disease which takes the lives of 40,000 people every year - the same number that die from breast cancer. My father was one of the lucky handful who survived because of a double-lung transplant. His rapid recovery has been nothing short of a miracle. My father, Tom Hales, is an incredibly blessed man.

Unfortunately, the patients who die each year never have that option. We are eternally grateful for his second chance, and we want to help the CPF fund research that will help thousands of others who will face this dreadful disease.

This run is a gift to all the patients alive now who would continue living if a treatment were discovered. Please help me make a difference for them.

Please join us on May 17th as we set out to generate awareness and understanding of Pulmonary Fibrosis, or please consider making a contribution to the CPF (www.coalitionforpf.org).