For 13 years, Ida Hull struggled to breathe. The condition prompted periodic doctor visits, prescriptions of steroid medication, one unexpected surgery and a stint of living at the end of a 50-foot hose connected to a five-foot oxygen tank. But if Ida ever heard the word Sarcoidosis, she never repeated it.

For 30 plus years Bryant’s sarcoidosis remained dormant until the disease became active in his late 50’s and aggressively compromised his ability to breathe without the use of supplemental oxygen. Bryant refused to give up or let pulmonary sarcoidosis define him.

On March 2, 2001, Alicia was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis of the lungs. Alicia was told there were no more medications to treat her stage four lung disease and she needed to consider being evaluated for a lung transplant. This was the second time she heard these very same words and she just couldn’t wrap my mind around such a hard decision.

A survivor of a rare form of cancer and a Sarcoidosis patient whose symptoms once deteriorated so severely that she was placed in hospice care, Cascenta Whyte has become a fierce advocate for her own health.

For nearly 18 years, Heidi Junk searched for an explanation of her sporadic and bizarre medical episodes. Since her early twenties, she had experienced periods of “electric bullets” shooting down her spine, odd tingling in her arms or legs, decreased hearing in one ear, localized pain, compromised balance and other symptoms.

At 37 years old, John headed to the emergency room. Over the next six days, a stream of doctors proposed possible diagnoses – including rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis and lime disease – while a string of tests disproved every theory. Finally, a doctor advised him that x-rays had revealed masses in his lungs and the cause was likely late-stage lymphoma.

Treena Jones prays daily for one specific development in the treatment of Sarcoidosis. “I pray that there is never another girl who looks up at her doctor and watches him dust off his hands in front of her and say, ‘I don’ t know what I can do for you,’” she said.

In June 2009 I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus of unknown origin after putting me a ventriculoperitoneal shunt I started to have a long list of new signs and symptoms [fevers of unknown origin, recurrent infections, enlarged liver, spleen and pancreas, hematological disorders, breathing problems (shortest of breath, recurrent pneumonia) , skin problems, joint pain/inflammation, fatigue, etc)