Watch 4 Wegeners
It Could Save a Life
Our daughter Sarah "River" Whitmire was a college student in pharmacy school when she died suddenly at age 20, from complications of undiagnosed Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA), also known as Wegener's Disease, a rare autoimmune disease that no one knew she had. Please join our fight to help others get a timely diagnosis and save lives.
Our Mission
Watch 4 Wegeners is a nonprofit organization with a mission of increasing awareness in the general public about a potentially fatal disease that is often under or mis-diagnosed. Delay in diagnosis of Wegener’s Disease, or Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) may have serious long-term effects and may lead to premature death. Increasing awareness can lead to a more timely diagnosis.
Additional missions include but are not limited to improving community resources for diagnosis and treatment, increasing the availability and funding for diagnostic testing, expanding training for health care providers, and ensuring the availability of GPA continuing education related to diagnosis and treatment.
What We Do
Education
Increasing GPA awareness in the public is a primary focus of Watch 4 Wegeners.  Our efforts to educate others will start with community events with hopes to expand those efforts exponentially.  Additionally, increasing awareness among health care providers has the potential to expedite diagnosis and save lives.
Volunteering
Watch 4 Wegeners needs volunteers to help expand our education and fundraising efforts. Sign up below to join our efforts to save lives by disseminating education about Wegener's Disease and to assist with the fundraising that is needed to do so. Whatever your talents are, you can be a part of the team. Become a part of our fight against missed or delayed diagnosis and join our efforts today. You just might save someone you love.
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Future Planned Projects
Our mission includes collaboration with similarly focused organizations and foundations to promote more frequent testing for GPA, and funding for coverage. We plan to develop a training module and a simple screening tool for primary care providers to help keep Wegener’s on their radar. Timely referrals to a specialist help to avoid dangerous delays in diagnosis.