In December 2005, I was given a suspected diagnosis of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis or LAM - a fatal and progressive disease with no effective treatment, affecting women in their childbearing years. I had always been healthy and suddenly facing the prospect of premature death without treatment, my husband and I contacted Dr. Folkman. Dr. Folkman gave me the courage to seek out a definitive diagnosis and once I had that, he got to work.

He also gave me reason to fight. When I mourned the prospect of advocating for a disease that affected so few, Dr. Folkman trained me to see the bigger picture; the scientific and human value behind the fact that rare diseases teach us about common diseases and vice versa.

Dr. Folkman approached problems and tumors organically - he understood that body systems and processes, from the macroscopic to the molecular had something to teach us, if we listened. Although LAM is fatal in the lungs, LAM needed to be rigorously approached as a multi-system disease. LAM had not traditionally been thought of as a cancer but Dr. Folkman insisted that this should be the model. His vision motivated me to form the LAM Treatment Alliance and shaped our approach to fast-tracking LAM treatment research through fostering and aggressively funding leading-edge ideas across disciplines in the fastest time possible.

Dr. Folkman was an insatiably curious, brave and integrative thinker. He seemed genuinely honored to be an active member of the LAM Treatment Alliance’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Folkman supported various LAM research efforts in his lab and in the Vascular Biology program often using discretionary funds. He attended and actively participated in our research Summits and monthly inter-disciplinary meetings, even when, on the surface, they may have seemed off-topic. He helped us to make our case to interested donors over lab tours and dinners. Women with LAM were blessed by his fusion of curing and caring and the productive tension between his passion and respect for science and his compassion for individual people. As a result, Dr. Folkman palpably strived to keep research time and therapeutic time in lock-step. Dr. Folkman walked his talk and took the high road in the face of his own disappointment; uncertain consequences and unpopular next moves. Dr. Folkman generously passed on his gifts and has left us with an army of those he had mentored for decades. They will help us to keep his vision for LAM and so many other diseases alive.

Dr. Folkman kept his eye on the prize. He died with his boots on. I know that wherever he is right now, he is busy setting up his lab.

Amy Farber 1/15/08