FULL SPEED AHEAD At 73, Jenny Blakeman doesn’t let her age or her pulmonary hypertension get in the way of living her life. She spoke to Mary Ferguson at her home in Tamworth.
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arge personalised lorries are a common sight around Jenny and Graham Blakeman’s house. While some people in their seventies put their feet up, Graham restores old trucks, takes them to shows around the country, and runs a haulage repair business on the side. And despite being on oxygen 24 hours a day, Jenny still plays an active role in the business by looking after the books from her office on the second
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floor of their home, which she reaches via a stairlift. She also provides a vital service to her son by looking after his dog, a rescued crossbreed named Jessie, every day while he is at work. And painting watercolours, a hobby she took up in her sixties, is another way that Jenny keeps her life full. “I keep positive because you've got to when you’ve got pulmonary hypertension,” she said. “You can't
give in to it, so you've got to keep going and do the things that you normally do – or at least try to. If you didn't stay positive, you'd just get old and go into decline. You've got to live your life.” Jenny was diagnosed with PH in 2016 after visiting her GP when she noticed she was breathless and had swelling in her lower legs. A scan revealed the right side of her heart was enlarged, and while waiting to be seen at a specialist centre she collapsed at home.
