Colleen Murphy
has a reason to smile

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Holmesburg resident Coleen Murphy has a lofty title to live up to.
Her lifelong best friend, Jeanie McLaughlin, says that Murphy is "the closest thing to Mother Teresa that you can ever meet."
And why did Murphy, 45, get paid such a compliment?
"She’s a walking prayer card," McLaughlin said. "She’ll pray for anyone that needs it."
Some might think that it’s Murphy who needs the prayers. She lives with two rare, incurable conditions — tuberous sclerosis and lymphangioleiomyomatosis, better known as LAM. Combined, the incurable diseases produce tumors and damage lung tissue.
But the sociable, always smiling Murphy continues to live a fulfilling life.
"I’m not the type of person to sit home and say, ‘Woe is me,’" Murphy said.
To help raise money for and awareness of Murphy’s afflictions, friends, many of them fellow members of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, started the Coleen Murphy Making a Difference Foundation this year. The group held a fund-raising event on April 28.
Foundation president Shawn Murphy (no relation) did not wish to disclose the amount of money raised, but says the group is off to a good start.
What’s more, the funds amassed don’t go to Murphy — they’re sent to research foundations and to the institutions where the St. Dominic’s School graduate receives treatment.
"You see a smile on her face when you raise money," Shawn Murphy said. "She never asks for a dime. She really has a desire to help people who have both of the ailments that she has."
Murphy, who spent her high school years in Miami, was born with tuberous sclerosis but didn’t know it until she was diagnosed while in Navy boot camp (the disease is now detectable through a blood test). Excited by her free ticket out of the military, Murphy failed to mention the diagnosis to family and friends.
It wasn’t until her lungs collapsed at age 25 that Murphy came clean about her condition. The genetic disorder also causes benign tumors, many of which Murphy already has had removed from her brain and kidneys.
Then about 10 years later, Murphy got the news that she had contracted LAM, a degenerative disease that destroys healthy lung tissue.
Because of her declining lung capacity, Murphy must constantly tote an oxygen bag to pump air to her lungs. She can’t work, but is only mildly restricted in her physical activity.
The prognosis for both diseases is uncertain, and Murphy receives mostly experimental treatment. But even with the health issues, Murphy, who has a hearty laugh, an eye that’s half blue, half brown, and a megawatt smile, leads quite an extraordinary life.
"I try not to let it bother me," Murphy said of her health.
She’s backpacked through Europe and gone on countless cruises. She loves to go out and dance and play shuffleboard.
"She surprises me with everything we do,"
McLaughlin said.
But . . .
"If she overdoes it, she has to sit down," McLaughlin said.
And another thing Murphy loves is Philadelphia.
"Philly people are the best around. They don’t judge you," said Murphy, who is the godmother of McLaughlin’s three children.
Murphy’s unyielding zest for life also shines in her mission to eradicate both tuberous sclerosis and LAM from the world.
"I’d like to make it like the common cold, where you take a pill and it just goes away," she said. ••
For more information about the foundation, log on to www.cmfoundation.net