PFP Participant Spotlight: Meet Loren Hahn
This week we are excited to share the story of one of our most unique, vivacious and inspirational local participants, Loren Hahn!! You can't help but smile when you are in Loren's presence and his love and joy for life is so infectious that the world looks that little bit brighter after you spend time chatting with him. We hope that getting to know him better has that same effect on you all as you read this...
Loren's journey living with Parkinson's began around 10 years ago. He is no stranger to major health challenges though, sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI) while riding his bicycle when he was just 25 years old. This injury saw him spend two months in hospital and left him with several long term complications. Despite all of this, Loren's upbeat approach to life ensures that he never feels down about having PD or any other health concerns. Thanks to his various life experiences, Loren has learned to simply embrace life and is thankful for every moment of joy and beauty that he gets to experience!!
These days, Loren often wonders how he had time to work prior to retirement. He fills his days to the brim and is sometimes up until 2am in the morning planning what fun he will get up to the next day. Most of the time you will find Loren outdoors busy working on 'Hahn's Haven Goat Ranch' from morning until night!! Loren has four acres in Cedar Creek, Texas - one acre for himself and three acres for his goats to roam around on. In Loren's own words, he feels his whole life has led up to this point!! He enjoys living on beautiful land with his dog, cat and many goats and he couldn't be happier with where his path has taken him and all the wonder he gets to witness each day. Just the other week, Loren witnessed one of his goats give birth to three kids, an absolute miracle that he is so grateful for!! When Loren isn't with his goats, he is exercising up a storm with PFP; planning his next ranch project; chatting with his 7 year old granddaughter; or dreaming of his next adventure. He's even hoping to walk a part of the Camino de Santiago later this year and is preparing for it by walking 8-9 miles a day at the moment!!
Prior to this current season of life (which he refers to as the best chapter yet!!), Loren had a long and fruitful career with IBM in Vermont and New York before the search for a warmer climate brought him to Austin. He grew up in Pennsylvania before spending the majority of his life in Vermont and still dreams about the natural beauty he lived amongst there to this day. Although Texas now has his heart, he still continues to travel and explore as much as he can and he is currently looking forward to visiting his granddaughter in California for the July 4th holiday. When I asked Loren what his secret to being so overjoyed by life was, he said firstly that he never takes anything personally and secondly that the world we live in is constantly changing and evolving and each day he makes it his mission to keep his eyes open to all of it!!
Loren, we love your attitude and your zest for life, thank you for sharing your bright light with our PFP community and uplifting us all!!