What’s in a name? Our founder, Bill Vick, reflects on the beginnings of PF Warriors as he celebrates another birthday living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in this interview with our team. Written by Teresa Barnes.
The PF Warriors founder, Bill Vick, has lived with IPF for more than a decade. He is what scientists call an “outlier.” He has spent much of his diagnosed years with little or no symptoms, and a lack of reliance on oxygen while living a physically active life.
While the former Marine was in the midst of training for his first triathlon at the age of 65, he noticed he was a little short of breath.
Soon after, a doctor diagnosed him with IPF.
He didn’t accept it. “I didn’t believe him,” Vick said. “I felt so good and couldn’t believe I was sick.”
He also didn’t believe the subsequent two other physicians who independently arrived at the same diagnosis – one at Baylor, Scott and White in Dallas, and another at National Jewish Health (NJH) in Denver. It was during the visit at NJH, a center he had heard was the top respiratory hospital in the nation, and after a week of intensive testing that Vick first began to accept the accuracy – and reality — of his diagnosis.
It was a watershed moment for Vick. He approached his illness much the way he had approached his successful career as a Gucci sales and marketing manager, an entrepreneur, and an executive recruiter. He stacked the cards in his favor with his focus on nutrition, fitness, and mental health. And while Vick worked advocating for himself, he found himself sharing his personal experiences with other patients. Hundreds gravitated towards him.
During Vick’s visit to NJH, he met several doctors and other PF patients. One of the doctors he met was Greg Cosgrove, MD, who was a pulmonologist at NJH. The two of them shared ideas about providing support for patients.
In the following months, as Vick adjusted to his new life as a reluctant patient back home in Dallas, he got a call from Cosgrove. He shared with Vick details about a center in Dallas where his former trainee, Craig Glazer, MD, had gone to begin his medical career. He shared that the center, University of Texas, Southwestern (UTSW) had an interest in becoming a PFF center of excellence but they were lacking one important thing – a support group.
Vick met face-to-face with Glazer soon after to discuss how he could help him set up a needed support group at UTSW. Glazer introduced himself and then turned to Vick and said, “So, I understand you are a PF patient.” Vick replied somewhat defiantly, “No, I am not. I’m a PF Warrior.”
“PF Warriors started happenstance,” Vick recalled.
Vick went on to work to hold a support group at UTSW that he named PF Warriors along with Glazer and Vick’s personal pulmonologist there, Christine Garcia, MD. At the time, most support groups Vick had heard about were in-person meetings with relatively small numbers of patients in attendance. Any given meeting, he said, brought in about 15 to 20 patients. Vick’s first PF Warriors in-person meeting brought in 200. And as time went on, the groups increased.
During the early days of the pandemic, it became clear to Vick that in-person support groups were too risky. An avid technology expert who years earlier owned some of the first privately-owned computer stores, Vick rapidly pivoted to bring PF Warriors to the patients and caregivers via a virtual platform and communicated it widely on social media. The group exploded in size.
Today, PF Warriors has more than 20,000 members and followers around the world and counting. The organization shares monthly educational webinars with renowned experts on topics important to patients and caregivers and holds monthly online support group meetings.
Looking back, Vick shared what he thinks are the best parts of becoming an advocate and establishing PF Warriors. “Living well as a patient,” he said. “I am not going to let this disease define who I am. And I want everyone to understand that it all starts here in your heart and mind. Recognize your value. Your value doesn’t stop because you have a disease.”
After all, Vick said, “I am not a patient. I’m a PF Warrior.”
PF Warriors membership is free. Members have access to archived recordings of the monthly webinars and special meetings. Join PF Warriors.
Read more about Bill Vick at About our Founder.
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