We must believe in the cure

Yep, I’m still cleaning out the office. I think I could make a career of cleaning out the office. I’m such a pack rat! I found something I’d torn out of one of those inspirational calendars back when I was still an editor at EXPO! It was another quote that had such meaning for me.



“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” - Anatole France


Anatole France was a Nobel prize-winning author and a journalist . Honestly, I don’t know much about him. He wrote some popular novels and won a bunch of awards in the 1800’s. I really like the quote, however.


Sometimes in our quest for the cure – okay perhaps more than sometimes – we get bogged down. We act, but we forget to dream. We work all day at planning, but lose heart in our gut when it comes to believing.


In my college and young adult days I was extremely active with the National Federation of the Blind. I attended some retreats the NFB had for young adult leaders in the group.


At one such event, we were discussing discrimination issues and some thoughtful person posed the question – how will we know when we’ve achieved equality? What does that really mean? What does it look like?


I was thinking the other day, how will the HPS Network change someday when we find the cure? I have to believe we will do it someday. Otherwise, why are we working so hard? What will that look like?


Of course that day will be such a glorious day. Our focus would likely change from diagnosing and research, to simply identifying people with HPS.


Someday, as has happened with other diseases that have found their cures, having HPS won’t be a big deal. It will simply be something to treat. Our stories, our hard work, will likely be forgotten when no one has to worry about bowel issues or pulmonary fibrosis.


It put a new spin on the cure for me.


We work to build a no-ego culture in the Network.


Imagine, our goal is that someday no one will remember our fight, no one will remember us and no one will think HPS is a big deal. They won’t have to even think about such things. That’s what the cure will look like.