People share so much on social media that sometimes it’s the simplest things that stand out.
That’s true of Richard Lovrich’s Instagram account. Lovrich, a longtime creative director, has been sharing single photographs taken while he walks his dog, Nigel, an American Hairless Terrier, along the same route close to his home in upstate New York. His posts say only “walking Nigel.”
Lovrich, who has the genetic rare disease Alpha 1 antitrypsin deficicency, calls walking the dog “an exercise in…Alpha 1 exercise, a way of testing my stamina on bad days and stretching my limits on good ones.”
“Walking the same route, or just a section of it helps me to understand where I am, health wise,” Lovrich said. “I sometimes walk with my portable oxygen concentrator and always my iPhone. The photographic challenge is to find the new on an unchanging and familiar path."
Regular physical activity is encouraged for patients who have Alpha 1, which affects lungs and breathing. And Lovrich, who’s an energetic advocate for those with Alpha 1, often turns his camera on special events for the patient community, such as the Escape to the Cape Bike Trek on Cape Cod.
