In 2021, when she was just 12 years old, Lilly’s world turned upside down after a routine sports physical led to a life-threatening diagnosis. “Lilly was diagnosed with a rare, and typically rapidly progressing, disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension,” said her mother, Katie. “She spent a month in the hospital as they diagnosed and began to treat her. She was discharged on several medications as well as oxygen 24/7. She could no longer go to school and had frequent visits throughout the next year to closely monitor the progression.” Lilly’s diagnosis meant she had high blood pressure in the arteries that went from her heart to her lungs. There is no cure for pulmonary arterial hypertension, and without treatment, high blood pressure in the lungs can cause the right heart to work much harder, weakening the heart muscle — or even causing it to fail. Over time, Lilly’s lungs became more obstructed, and in 2022, she was admitted to the hospital after coughing up blood from her l...