Hello, my name is Tami LaMore. I currently reside in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in the small town of Winchester, Tennessee. My most difficult and proudest accomplishments in life are being a parent to five wonderful children of my own and two adopted children. At the age of 52, I decided to go back to college and pursue an education in Mass Communications. I am currently one class away from graduating. So, the moral of the story is to never give up on your dreams no matter how old you are. My interests include working with the less fortunate and helping to make a difference in their lives, gardening, canning, enjoying nature, and traveling. Time with friends and family is very important to me.
My journey to finding out I had Alpha-1 was a long road. My entire life I remember having problems breathing. For many years I went untreated – diagnosed with asthma, severe allergies, and chronic bronchitis. When I reached my mid-thirties, I was sick often with chronic lung infections and reoccurring pneumonia. At first, I was just seeing my primary care physician about my lung condition. Things were getting so bad that I had to accept it was time to reach out to someone that knew a little bit more about lung issues. This started a long journey of finding a doctor who could really help me. After seeing several pulmonologists with no answers or improvement, I set out on a quest to keep searching until I found someone who could really help me. The treatment I was getting through therapy and medication was not helping. Finally, in 2012 I found that special doctor that tested me for Alpha-1 on my first visit. Two weeks later, I received a call from my doctor who informed me I had Alpha- 1 and that I was an MZ (with one severely deficient genotype). This puzzled me because I knew I was having many problems and even though I only had one severely deficient genotype, I was symptomatic. I started to study everything I could find out about this rare condition while simultaneously getting my 4 children tested. All 4 were MZs just like me. I spent many nights feeling hopeless about my prognosis as well as feeling guilty for passing this on to my children. It wasn’t until I started getting calls from a wonderful AlphaNet Coordinator that I really began to realize that everything would be ok. I wasn’t alone, I had support and an abundance of information to help me understand this condition I was living with. My life and my attitude have changed so much since I became an AlphaNet Coordinator. Being able to help my fellow Alphas is one of the biggest rewards I could ever have bestowed upon my life.
I am extremely excited and proud to be part of the AlphaNet family and can’t wait to be there for each of you.