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.”
“It began as a ‘thank you’ note to first responders in 2017, because I know they go through so much, but then it started to rhyme. My husband and son pushed me to write music to go with it. I don’t typically write music, so this was definitely out of my wheelhouse, but the message was so important that I needed to figure it out.”
That encouragement — paired with her deep connection to the first responder community — helped bring the song to life. “Responders need to hear this: there is hope and they are not alone,” Krah said.
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 prevention and air purification technology systems that utilize ActivePure Technology — a 24/7 air and surface decontamination system. It’s been proven to reduce molds, mildews, bacteria and viruses, including MRSA and staph without the use of chemicals or toxins. This technology is being used in ambulances, fire apparatus and stations, as well as other first responder environments as a green option to improve health and safety.
“When I started the company, I didn’t realize I was already part of their community,” Krah said. “Two years into the business, I found a photo of my great-grandmother and her brother on the National EMS Museum’s website. They were sitting on a lumber flume boat.”
That discovery revealed her great-uncle, Dr. Newton Thomas Enloe, had invented the first lumber flume ambulance in 1901. “He was the surgeon to a logging community outside of Chico, Calif., and would create a lot of his own surgical tools — once fixing a hip with a 20-penny nail,” she said. “The logging industry had its own set of perilous accidents, sometimes with men getting crushed between logs. He would send someone along with his patients 20 miles down the river in a lumber flume to be treated at the hospital.”
Over the years, Krah built close friendships with EMS, fire, police and military personnel — and saw firsthand the toll their work takes on them and their families. “So many are dying of cancer, dealing with PTSD and suicide, it’s heartbreaking to see everything they go through to try to keep it all together. And many still feel alone in their struggles.”
But “My Hero’s Prayer” didn’t finish completion until life gave Krah new perspective: “In May, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 pancreatic cancer.” Unsure of her future, Krah decided to finish some of her projects — and this song was her family’s No. 1 priority. “You have to record your song,” they told me.
Going through chemotherapy, her voice wasn’t as strong during the recording: “I was fairly weak, but I think that added to the vulnerability of the song.”
“Our first responders are so valuable,” she said. “I want them to know that they are seen and heard — and know they’re not alone. Sometimes we just can’t figure life out, and we weren’t meant to carry the world’s problems on our shoulders. Please remember that God shows up with your every breath as you show up to save the breath of others. It’s OK to breathe, rest and cry out. Argue with God; He can take it. Scream until you can’t scream anymore. Then collapse in His arms and let Him breathe for you.”
Listen to and share “My Hero’s Prayer,” by Beth Krah, below.
