PH News: The Rand Family Interview

Monday night is usually a “dark night” in the theater world — a time of rest and renewal. But this Monday, June 6, is “Breathless on Broadway” night, and musical theater stars will be out in force in New York City, singing to remember a teenager who lost her life to pulmonary hypertension (PH) and to raise money that others similarly ill might have a chance for a brighter future.

“Breathless on Broadway” brings the musical theater world to Sardi’s restaurant, where attendees are treated to intimate performances of current Broadway hits and one-of-a-kind previews of future Broadway shows. All proceeds from the evening, which includes a silent auction, go to benefit phaware global, a nonprofit PH advocacy and education group, and its research efforts.

The benefit is also, importantly, a commemoration of Chloë Rand, a “PH warrior” who lost her life to the disease shortly before her 14th birthday, and who — despite a daily struggle to breathe — looked upon music as communication at its best.

“One of the blessings of our life,” Marie Mascia-Rand, Chloë’s mother and a phaware co-founder, told Pulmonary Hypertension News in an interview, “was that Chloë learned well through music. She understood things through singing to her better than through speaking to her. … My mom was a trained opera singer, so we’re a musical family” whose members took to speaking through song to their eldest child and sister.
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“Music was always magical for Chloë,” said Liv Rand, 20, a student at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, earning dual degrees in music and teaching. “It became part of our home, our life.”