The PHA community is a network of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences living their best lives. PHA highlights those experiences through inspiring first-person stories in our Right Heart Blog.
Erin Baker, diagnosed with IPAH at 17, shares her journey to a double lung transplant and advocacy work in Australia.
Diagnosis & treatment
Diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension at 12, Rim Benjaada shares her journey to specialist care and authorship for World PH Day.
Karen Duncan shares practical PAH tips—affording meds, traveling with oxygen, exercising safely, and finding specialist care.
Carson Smith shares her pulmonary hypertension journey and volunteer impact in honor of PHA’s Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 19–25.
Cheryl Dehoney couldn’t find specialized medical care for her PH in Hawaii, so she looked to her home state of California, where she still has a residence.
Support group leader and PHA board member Nicole Creech dedicates one meeting a year to the caregivers who share their time and love with her members. Creech, who was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension due to sickle cell anemia in 2008, leads the group with Evelyn Mitchell.
Each year, Keith Adams honors his late wife Caroline with a gift to PHA on her birthday. Caroline developed pulmonary hypertension symptoms in 2019 but didn’t receive a diagnosis for two years because of the pandemic.
Read Charlotte McFarland’s PAH story and her family’s journey, shared to raise awareness during American Heart Month.
Olivia Edelen of PHA’s Piedmont PHriends Support Group shares her story in the December 2025 issue of Pathlight magazine.
