As a ProResp client of over ten years, Pam never let her need for supplemental oxygen stop her from adventuring around the world. She told us that her initial diagnosis was hard to take.
“At first, I was really upset that I was being put on oxygen permanently,” Pam told us. “To me, that was a sign that my situation was really bad and that the things I love to do in life would now be out of reach.”
But Pam went in with an open mind and it didn’t take long for the team at ProResp to show her that oxygen therapy doesn’t need to be a sentence of house arrest.
“I have a good quality of life – ten years after my diagnosis. That is what the oxygen has given me,” said Pam. “When I am on oxygen I can do so much more.”
With the support of the ProResp team, Pam made annual trips to Mexico and has also travelled to Alaska, Panama and Costa Rica, where she achieved a lifelong dream of ziplining. Back at home in southwestern Ontario, Pam and her friends performed aqua aerobics in her backyard pool, supported by a fifty-foot hose capable of carrying the oxygen from her concentrator all the way to the shallow end!
“Being active and thinking positively makes a difference,” Pam enthused. “A lot of people, they get put on the oxygen and they just kind of give up. Maybe they are embarrassed to be out with a hose and a tank. But with ProResp, they make it possible for you to live the life you were living before. If you have a dream, they help make it happen. Wherever I go, ProResp makes sure there is oxygen and support there waiting for me.”
Pam’s advice to others in her situation: “Don’t decide right away you can’t do something. Instead, ask yourself how can I make this happen?”
Great advice, Pam — Thank you for inspiring us!
