Everything Respiratory’s Mission:
To provide respiratory patients with a source of reliable information on products, medical news, and personal stories by patients; to increase community awareness of respiratory diseases; to empower respiratory patients through education and support.
For nearly a decade Holly Lockwood experienced a medical nightmare. Despite her need for oxygen and poor health, doctors could not understand what was causing her medical problems. It took multiple tests, doctors, and possible diagnoses to finally solve Lockwood’s medical mystery. Lockwood suspected she had Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and she was formally diagnosed in 2005. She was the first person with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Colorado to qualify for Social Security. It wasn’t until a year ago doctors discovered an intracardiac shunt and scarring in her lungs were causing her problems.
Lockwood’s medical ordeal inspired her to start Everything Respiratory magazine. She wanted respiratory patients to have a magazine that could provide them with information on new treatments and products. She also wanted somewhere people could share their stories with others, to be used as a source of hope and inspiration for other people going through difficult medical times. Lockwood’s vision finally came to be in late 2007 when the first issue of Everything Respiratory was published.
Today Lockwood still uses oxygen, but needs it less often than she did before and she always has an “I Can Breath TM” mask with her incase she’s confronted with strong smells. She also has several medications that she requires daily, but over all Lockwood is doing well. She spends her time running Everything Respiratory, and soon hopes to start her non-profit O2 Connections to help people who need to travel with oxygen. Lockwood feels a sense of fulfillment and pride that her magazine reaches and helps so many people. She started the magazine and her non-profit with one thing in mind: to help others. This magazine is for you, the reader. Without you and your stories, there wouldn’t be a magazine. Lockwood hopes that all of her readers have gotten something out of the magazine, and hopes to reach even more people through the magazine’s website.
