ONE OF LIFE’S great complexities is our ability to be more than one thing, despite outside perceptions of who we are. Your coworker may quietly be a great painter. Your favorite actor’s true passion may lie in the garden. Each life is a tapestry, appearing differently depending on the vantage point.

Bernie Williams is best known as an all-star centerfielder in baseball and four-time world champion. Less well-known is that he’s an award-winning jazz guitarist and composer whose performances have graced some of the world’s most renowned music venues. He is also a dedicated advocate whose work has been shaped by a deeply personal experience: a caregiver for his late father.

Williams’ father died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)—a progressive form of interstitial lung disease (ILD)—in 2001. The loss turned the athlete and musician into a passionate advocate for ILD awareness.…