Pulmonary Hypertension is a rare and fatal lung disease affecting the arteries in the lungs and damaging the heart. About five thousand Canadians have been diagnosed with PH, but the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada says that number could be doubled because the symptoms of PH – fatigue, breathlessness and swelling - can mimic other diseases.
Nicole Dempsey didn’t realize how serious her symptoms were. She struggled with fatigue and shortness of breath for a year before being diagnosed with PH in December of 2013.
“I always just chalked up my symptoms to being out of shape, even lazy,” Dempsey said.
“It was very shocking. I was laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to oxygen six days before Christmas, and told that this is what I had, and it doesn’t have a good prognosis,” said Dempsey.
There is no cure for PH. If left undiagnosed, most patients will not live longer than two years.
“At the point of diagnosis I was in right heart ventricle failure, so I was in active heart failure, so obviously my heart had taken a lot of strain,” Dempsey said.
November is Pulmonary Hypertension awareness month. The goal is to raise awareness about the disease and it’s symptoms.
“If one person can spread the news to another person, then that just helps our cause,” said Dempsey, an ambassador with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada.
