MEET
PH Bloggers the
Putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) helps these PH patients in many different ways. We asked them why they blog, and what they would like to say to Emphasis readers this Christmas…
Serena Lawrence
Serena lives in Ontario, Canada and was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in December 2013. She blogs at www.phightorflight.blogspot.co.uk
This Christmas will mark three years living with pulmonary hypertension. I actually had my right heart catheterisation on Christmas Eve (Merry Christmas to me!) I started my blog, The PHight or Flight Project, in the spring of 2014 (several months after my diagnosis). Blogging has helped me connect with lots of other PH patients who understand what it is like to live with this disease. It has also given me the opportunity to interview people with PH who have thrived for a long time, which certainly helps provide hope to me and other PH patients. I have spoken to people who were diagnosed and told that they had 24 hours to live - over 40 years ago! Blogging has also helped me continue a bit of a career after retiring from my job at the age of 26. I've been able to do a lot of freelance writing and even have my own column called "Life with PH" with the American online news magazine Pulmonary Hypertension News, which I really enjoy doing. I'd love to write a book someday. When I was first diagnosed I needed supplementary oxygen 24/7. My best friend even had to push me around in a wheelchair when she
invited me to go to the mall. My mom had to help me change my clothes, I could barely shower. It was very humbling to go through that in my twenties. I am happy to share that I am doing better than doctors expected because I was so ill (between a stage 3-4) when I was diagnosed. I still get out of breath, but I've learned to pace myself. Sometimes slow and steady really does win the race. Last Christmas was the first Christmas I didn't need oxygen to decorate the tree. I even got a new one and decorated it all by myself!
My message to Emphasis readers this Christmas:
“I've learned that a lot can change in a few years, and sometimes it can be for the better. Whatever you do, don't stop laughing or loving.”
WINTER 2016 emphasis 13
