Michael Strahan, a former National Football League defensive end who played his entire career for the New York Giants has been one of the most active advocates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) awareness. Michael’s Uncle Bud, who suffered from a form of COPD known as emphysema, had difficulty breathing and wore an oxygen mask towards the end of his life. Michael Strahan now wishes his uncle knew that early detection of COPD is vital, because there are treatments that can make breathing easier.
There are several clinical trials currently on-going to find new treatments for COPD, some of which are:
[LIST_TRIALS condition=”COPD”]
You can search for these studies by treatments such as:
[LIST_TREATMENTS condition=”COPD”]
or by doctors conducting these studies.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a group of lung conditions including chronic bronchitis, asthmatic bronchitis and emphysema. Symptoms of COPD include severe shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, restlessness and a general feeling of ill-health among others. Smoking tobacco accounts for almost 90% of all COPD cases in the US. Other major causes are air pollution and workplace exposures (coal mining etc.). COPD can start developing early in people’s lives and may or may not be diagnosed until a lot later.
In October 2010, the National health initiative DRIVE4COPD announced the launch of its new Ambassador Program, which gives fans the opportunity to join their favorite celebrity in raising awareness of COPD. “The DRIVE4COPD campaign has been to community events across the country and we keep hearing that people want to help us get word out about COPD. The Ambassador Program makes it easy for people to join us,” said Michael Strahan. “This disease kills more people than breast cancer and diabetes combined, so don’t wait – join my team. The more people who get involved, the more lives we’ll touch.” COPD is the fourth leading cause of illness and death, with almost 1 in every 60 people suffering from this disease globally.
Michael Strahan’s has had an illustrious career where he set the record for the most sacks in a single season (22.5 in 2001) and won a Super Bowl in 2008, his final year. We salute Michael for his efforts in raising awareness of COPD, and strongly urge everyone to stop smoking!
