30 Days of PH: My Daughter Is My Hero

Becky Weiss, left, stands with her daughter, Emily. (Photo courtesy of Becky Weiss)

Day 29 of 30

This is Becky Weiss‘ story:

When my daughter Emily decided to attend college in Texas, I was hesitant to let her go. We were living in Georgia and the school was 800 miles away. What if something happened?  I wouldn’t be able to get to her quickly enough. Keeping her with us was not an option, though. I had to let her spread her wings and fly. I am so glad that I did. Emily spent one semester at college in Texas and grew and learned so much. She realized, though, that she needed to be closer to us. She moved home in January 2020. Thank God she did. The pandemic started a few months later.

It was so nice to have Emily home and get to spend time with her. I had missed her terribly. When the world shut down it was easy to keep her healthy. We were home together, but that got to be too much. She decided to start working. She was hired by a local veterinarian. She learned quickly and became a vet tech, assisting the doctors. This was getting her closer to her dream of becoming a veterinarian. She worked 45–60 hours a week for two years. I was so impressed with her. The girl that did not like mornings made it to work on time every day.

This past fall she decided to start back to college. She is taking just a few classes at a time so that she can keep her grades up. She would like to transfer to a bigger school next year, but this time closer to home. She wants to be a veterinarian now more than ever.

While in Texas at college, Emily transitioned to Methodist Hospital from Texas Children’s. She continues to see the doctor there and we travel every six months for regular visits. She is doing quite well. Knock on wood! This past spring, she rode the Rockin’ Roller Coaster at Disney. I was terrified. Her exact words to me were, “If I didn’t think I could handle it, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t want to die”! I must remind myself that she is an adult now and knows what she is capable of.

Emily and I will be traveling to Texas in December to see her doctors. She will be undergoing a CT scan — the first one since her pulmonary hypertension (PH) diagnosis — on Dec. 14 as well as a barrage of other tests.  We continue to pray that God protects her and keeps her stable. Emily is my hero!

Read Emily Weiss’s “30 Days of PH” story from 2019, “College Life.”

Pulmonary Hypertension News’ 30 Days of PH campaign will publish one story per day for PH Awareness Month in November. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more stories like this, using the hashtag #30DaysofPH, or read the full series.