Raya'scolumn

easily, but I never really told them a lot because all the time I was in school, the teachers knew to look out for me and knew if I wasn’t feeling great.

When it came to me attending college, I did have to make my friendship group more aware, as we were going out more often and I used to like meeting up with them outside of college.

I think as we were all older and becoming young adults, they took the news very well. Most of them all got my mum’s number so if anything was to happen, one of them would be able to call straight away.

I was really lucky to have a group of friends who accepted my PH but also didn’t treat me any different from the others. I think they also loved the perk of always being dropped home by my mum after we’d been out because public transport was often too much for me to manage!

New conversations came again when I started working. I got a job in a nursery that was actually based at my college, which was really handy as it had a car park so I didn’t have to walk far.

Before working there, I had an interview with the mangers and told them all about my PH and other health problems. They were so accommodating and made me feel really welcome.

If I spend a lot of time in one place, I have to keep a spare oxygen cylinder there just in case. So, my mum had to go in and show them all how it worked in case there was ever a time I needed it. This was then kept in their office. I also wear a medical alert bracelet on my right wrist. Every member of staff I worked with was made aware of that, and in case of emergency they could let people like the ambulance service know it was there.

It has all my health conditions on and also a number for my parents if anything was to happen. It also helped a great deal when they filled out any forms for me, as they could get all the spellings right!

I really enjoyed it at the nursery and felt very at ease there. I wasn’t treated any differently to other members of staff either which was really nice. Sometimes if it got too cold out in the playground, I was able to switch with someone who was in the baby room so I could stay inside.

Having to tell people about my PH can be really nerve-wracking, but it’s almost a relief once I’ve done it. It also makes me worry less about being away from my mum if the people around me know!