On May 22, 2012, Thomas J. Moritz, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather took his final flight when he passed away after a year-long battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. He has safely landed and is forever with the Lord!!
Tom was a well-respected pharmacist (and pilot) who dedicated himself to helping others throughout his life and beyond. He has graciously donated his body to science in hopes to find a cure for IPF.
It is my desire to raise awareness and help provide funds for more research into finding a cause and, more importantly, a cure for this literally "breathtaking" disease.
IPF affects about 128,100 people in the United States. 48,000 new cases are diagnosed annually and 40,000 people die each year to IPF (the same as to breast cancer). Very few people, however, have heard of this disease.
So…What is Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis?
In short, Pulmonary Fibrosis is a disease in which tissue deep in your lungs becomes scarred, and stiffened over time. This stiffening makes it increasingly difficult to breathe. As the lung tissue thickens, your lungs cannot properly move oxygen into your bloodstream. As a result, your brain and other organs don't get the oxygen they need. Sometimes doctors can find out what's causing fibrosis. But in most cases, they can't find a cause. These cases are called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). IPF has no significant treatment, it is incurable, progressive and fatal 100% of the time. Many people live only about 3 to 5 years after diagnosis. The most common cause of death related to IPF is respiratory failure.
God saw him getting tired, and a cure was not to be,
so He put His arms around him and whispered, "Come to ME".
With tearful eyes we watched him suffer, and saw him slowly fade away.
Although we loved him dearly, we could not make him stay.
A golden heart stopped beating, hard-working hands put to rest,
God broke our hearts to prove to us, "He only takes the best."
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Believers Who Have Died
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
(I have personally never found these words as comforting and encouraging as I do now. I can't wait for that "trumpet call of God" to be reunited with loved ones and to be forever with the Lord!)
PLEASE SERIOUSLY CONSIDER DONATING TO THIS CAUSE. EVERY LITTLE BIT CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
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