PHA Helps Highlight the Importance of Organ Donation During National Donate Life Month

April is National Donate Life Month and all month long the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) is bringing awareness to transplant recipients, individuals still on the waiting list for a transplant, donors and donor families and registered donors. The awareness month, established in 2003 by Donate Life America, supports organizations nationwide in their efforts to encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. Join PHA as we celebrate those who have saved lives by giving life through organ donation.

Lung transplantation can be a treatment option for select individuals with pulmonary hypertension (PH) when medical therapy is no longer effective. This week’s entry to PHA’s The Right Heart blog is by PH warrior and double-lung transplant recipient, Tina Proulx. Tina shares her story of asthma misdiagnosis, a cancer false-alarm and many tests and hospital visits before being correctly diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. After being determined ineligible for pulmonary thromboendarterectomy surgery, a double-lung transplant was the only option to save her life. Tina stresses, despite not knowing anything about her organ donor, “they are MY HERO.”

PHA’s The Right Heart blog helps the PH community educate others about life with PH, providing you with an opportunity to express yourself and share your story. During National Donate Life Month, we want to hear from you if you have received a transplant, are waiting to receive a transplant, have saved a life via organ donation or if you just want to express your thoughts on the topic of organ donation and transplants. Do you have The Right Heart to share your PH story? Submit your story at phassociation.org/get-involved/share-your-story/.

Follow PHA on Facebook (facebook.com/PulmonaryHypertensionAssociation), Twitter (@PHAssociation), Instagram (@PHAssociation), and LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/pulmonary-hypertension-association/) to catch the most up-to-date information on National Donate Life Month, and use #DonateLifeMonth #NDLM and #PHAssociation on social media to join the conversation.