Ray Protti fully expects to be the last to start and first to finish his event during the Kool Oak Bay Half Marathon.
Sunday morning he walks for six minutes in a campaign to raise awareness for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or IPF.
“It’s an effort to bring more attention and knowledge,” said Protti.
The six-minute walk is a test doctors put patients through to gauge how well the lungs are working, and determines if someone with the disease requires oxygen. IPF is a scarring of the lungs that is not curable (without a lung transplant), progressive and fatal, Protti said.
“I’m not at that stage, I’m fortunate,” he said, gesturing to a lack of oxygen tanks in his bright living room. Qualfied as mild to moderate right now, it took him four years to be diagnosed with a family physician who was aware and took the steps to get him tested.
That included a high resolution CT scan and tests in Vancouver, followed by a lung biopsy that confirmed the diagnosis. Symptoms included a persistent dry cough, easy fatigue, and shortness of breath. It’s often mistaken as COPD or asthma.
“Knowing what it is is very important to knowing what medications you’re going to be put on,” said Protti. He also lobbies for the medication he takes, noting it’s not funded under BC’s medical system, the only province in Canada yet to do so. The medications slow the scarring, and now just beyond a year of diagnosis and medication, he happily reports little spread found in his recent tests.
“Any result that says I’m stale is a good thing,” Protti said.
He promotes exercise as critical to his health, personally enjoying golf, treadmill work and a personal trainer a couple of times a week.
“Exercise is critical. You’ve got to keep the lungs going as best you can,” he said.
Information is another key component.
“You have to get information and seek out contacts,” he said. “You share stories and find out what’s working for people.”
For example he learned of pineapple juice as an aid to end the persistent cough jags – a tool that worked for him – from a blog. He follows medication development.
“From what I can tell every case is different,” he said. “I’m really one of the lucky ones so far … I’m not on oxygen, but at some point yeah that’s my future.
The campaign to raise awareness hits many marathon’s across the country. Protti walks his six minutes during the Oak Bay Half this weekend.
“It’s important to get awareness out there because it is difficult to diagnose,” he said.
The family-friendly Oak Bay races, featuring the half marathon, relay, 10k, Kids 1k and Protti’s six-minute walk, is Sunday, May 28 with runners starting as early as 7 a.m. at Windsor Park.
Visit oakbayhalf.com for information, results and photos.