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.
PHA peer mentor Tina Kondos has lived in the Phoenix area since 2018, but holds a special place in her heart for the Midwest, where she was born and raised.
Casey Perez was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension three months after her wedding in 2018. The 32-year-old lives in Bradenton, Florida, with her husband and works as a marketer. “I turned to PHA’s invaluable resources on how to live better with PH,” she wrote in PHA’s most recent annual report.
Health care professionals struggle every day to ensure patients get the right drugs. They know what’s working and what’s not. Yet insurance companies decide whether patients receive their prescribed medications. “We need a better way to ensure our patients get what they need when they need it,” says Donnielle Turner, a registered nurse at Houston Methodist.
For Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month, Zachary Schmidt shares how he lets his light shine through hiking around the world. Schmidt, diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension when he was in middle school, says he feels grateful for what his body can do and blessed for the ability to keep hiking, one step at a time.
Colleen Schnell, Niagara Falls, New York, has had pulmonary arterial hypertension related to heart defect, since she was a baby. But her family didn’t really know anything about PAH until the symptoms significantly worsened when Schnell was 24. Since then, she has appropriate treatment, discovered the Pulmonary Hypertension Association and leads a support group.
Terese Tuohey has lived with CTEPH for about 10 years but was diagnosed only five years ago. After PTE surgery in 2020, she has 85% of her lung capacity back. Tuohey shares her story for CTEPH Awareness Day on Nov. 13 and PH Awareness Month in November.
Lisa Laughlin’s cardiac experience in the ICU paid off when she applied for a position to care for people with PH and other lung conditions, even though she knew little about PH. Since then, she’s learned a lot about PH on the job and through her patients. Read her story.
With a family history of asthma, Roopa Siddaiah learned the challenges of lung diseases early on. Those experiences prompted her to study lung physiology and led to a Pulmonary Hypertension Association research grant. Siddaiah originally shared her story for PHA’s annual report. She shares it with PHA’s Right Heart Blog to encourage other researchers to apply for PHA grants. Read her story.
Gary Bruce co-leads the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Dallas Support Group with his wife Debra Hines-Bruce, whom he met at a PHA conference. He shared his story in the 2023 PHA Annual Report. Read his story in PHA’s Right Heart Blog.
