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.
Marina Salazar, a licensed clinical social worker at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center, is active in PH advocacy. She originally shared her story with Pathlight, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s quarterly member magazine. Read her story.
Andrea Redstone-Henry, an exercise specialist at Community Heart and Vascular Hospital in Indianapolis, began helping in the PH clinic this year. Her interest in PH grew, and now she’s a Pulmonary Hypertension Association Volunteer. Read her story in PHA’s Right Heart Blog.
LaKeshia Orr was just shy of her 31st birthday when she learned she had pulmonary hypertension. After her pulmonologist introduced her to a Pulmonary Hypertension Association support group, her outlook changed. Today, Orr, 38, is the face of our fall fundraising campaign.
Jamie Mykins, 44, uses her professional skills to as a mental health counselor to help others – and herself. Diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in 2014, she learned to advocate for herself, accept her situation and embrace her passions. Mykins, of Orlando, Florida, shares her story with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s Right Heart Blog.
Lala Juarez of Salt Lake City, Utah, was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension in 2015 after two years of misdiagnosis. Jaurez, who leads the Northern Utah PHA Support Group, received a double lung transplant in 2021.
Social worker and PHA volunteer Patrick Mellin of received a double lung transplant in 2023. He shares his emotional and physical roller coaster with PHA for National Donate Life Month. “Transplant is not a cure, it’s another chance at life,” he says. Read his Right Heart blog post.
High school senior Ethan Park dreams of fishing in the national college bass fishing series when he goes away to university next fall. Park was diagnosed with mild pulmonary hypertension when he was 5, but his symptoms worsened in 2023. He shares his triumphs and challenges with the Pulmonary Hypertension’s Right Heart Blog.
Living with PH
Ann Socolofsky of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in 1998. Now 65, she still works as a physician and helps women manage life-threatening illnesses like PH. Socolofsky originally shared her story with Pathlight, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association’s quarterly member magazine.
Living with PH
Cheryl Wegener felt grateful when her daughter’s former classmates chose PHA as a recipient of their senior class fundraiser. She thought the donation was a fitting tribute to Madison, who died during her freshman year of high school. Cheryl shares Madison’s story for PHA's spring fundraising campaign. She and her husband will present the check from the fundraiser at PHA 2022 International PH Conference and Scientific Sessions, Aug. 15-18 in Indianapolis.
