WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, WMDT reporter Jobina Fortson interviewed U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and former Congressman Mike Castle (R-Del.) last week about their fight against Pulmonary Fibrosis. Recently, Senator Coons secured funding through his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee for a first-of-its-kind Fibrosis Research Center in Boston’s Mass General Hospital, building on years of work started by former Rep. Castle.

You can watch the clip here: http://bit.ly/20k7s5 

WMDT:Coons and Castle making waves in Fibrosis research

By Jobina Fortson

WILMINGTON, Del. - Mass General Hospital in Boston has announced the establishment of the Fibrosis Research Center within the Department of Medicine. It's the first of its kind.  It’s also all happening in part because of U.S. Senator Chris Coons' push for more Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) research.

Senator Coons says, “I am more optimistic now than I've been at any point in the last five years that we will have an effective treatment; and hopefully God willing a cure.”

Senator Coons has become the congressional face for the disease. PF happens when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred. It kills roughly forty-thousand Americans a year. Former Congressman Mike Castle's brother and sister unfortunately fall into that category. 

Castle says, “It's just very difficult when people are just gasping and can't breathe. That's ultimately how they die. I was there when my sister died and it was a very difficult experience to go through.” 

When Coons won the senate seat back in 2010, Castle asked if he could carry the torch to fight for awareness. It was something he had been doing while in congress. Pulmonary Fibrosis has no cure and no known cause.

Senator Coons goes on, “Their only hope is a double lung transplant which is rare and incredibly expensive. In most cases they pass away within three to five years. Several of the folks I met with when I first became a senator in 2010 have now passed away from the disease.”

However, that's not to say major strides haven't been made. Coons has used his appropriations committee assignment to increase funding opportunities for PF, introduced legislation establishing a PF registry, and encouraged the National Institute of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to develop fibrosis across organs. It’s an initiative that funds research studying how fibrosis affects organs in the body. Coons and Castle believe what's coming to Mass General is just the next step.

Castle says, “It's wonderful when the really top people in the medical profession start to pay attention to something like this.”

Officials with Mass General expect to have the Fibrosis Research Center up and running by late Spring.