When Beth Krah first began writing what would become “My Hero’s Prayer,” she didn’t set out to create a song — she just wanted to say thank you.
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“It started out as a ‘thank you’ note to first responders, because we know what they’re going through, and it started to rhyme because I have Dr. Seuss in the back of my head all the time,” Krah said. “And then when I read it to my son and my husband, they said, ‘You need to do something with this.’ I don’t write music, so it definitely was out of my wheelhouse, and that’s why I think it was that important.”
That encouragement — paired with her deep connection to the first responder community — helped bring the song to life. “I want people to see it,” Krah said. “It’s such a message that just needs to get out there.”
Krah’s work has long centered around supporting first responders. As founder of Krah Health Solutions, she has been serving the public safety community since 2009. The company provides infection control and air purification systems that utilize patented ActivePure Technology — a 24/7 air and surface disinfection process proven to reduce molds, mildews, bacteria and viruses, including MRSA and staph. The technology is now used in ambulances, fire apparatus and stations, and other first responder environments to improve health and safety.
“When I started the company providing this technology to first responders, I didn’t realize that I was part of their community already,” Krah said. “I had gotten two years into the business, and then I found my great-grandmother and her brother’s picture on the EMS History Museum’s website.”
That discovery revealed her great-uncle, Dr. Newton Thomas Enloe, had invented the first lumber flume ambulance in 1901. “He would make all of his equipment by hand and he fixed a hip or a knee with a 20-penny nail,” she said. “He would send his patients from the lumber flume that were crushed by logs … down the lumber flume to the hospital so they can be treated.”
Over the years, Krah built close friendships with EMS, fire, police and military personnel — and saw firsthand the toll their work can take. “A lot of them are dying of cancer now, and it’s heartbreaking to see what they’ve gone through,” she said. “They also deal with PTSD and suicide. A lot of people just don’t realize what they go through. And a lot of them still think that they’re alone.”
But “My Hero’s Prayer” didn’t reach completion until life gave Krah new perspective. “Just in May, I was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer, so they’ve given me 18 to 24 months, but I’m stubborn, so who knows?” she said. “I’m trying to figure out what do I want to finish? And this song was the No. 1 priority for my family, so I just want to get the word out.”
Her voice, she said, wasn’t perfect when she recorded it, but that only made it more real. “I was a little more weak … actually, a lot more weak, when I recorded it. And I think it just made it that more vulnerable.”
“Our first responders are so valuable,” she said. “I want them to feel seen and understood and heard, and to know they’re not alone. Sometimes you can’t figure life out, you’re not supposed to. But there is hope and you just have to keep breathing.”
Listen to and share “My Hero’s Prayer,” by Beth Krah, below.
