Blooming Hope – a Column by Anna Jeter

Anna is an artist and writer based in Minnesota. Diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension at the age of 4, she fought for 19 years before receiving a lifesaving heart-lung transplant in 2018. Despite complications following transplant, she was discharged back home eight months later. Anna now manages life with a tracheostomy and relies on supplemental oxygen, but her life remains full of hope and wonder, which she strives to share through her writing. In addition to her role as a columnist for Pulmonary Hypertension News, Anna works as a photo editor, a photographer, and also runs her own art business.

Always a Mess: Keeping Clean With Chronic Illness

I didn’t truly realize how messy of a person I was until I went to college and spent more than four years living in small spaces with others. Growing up, my room would always become quickly disorganized, but this was typical teenage behavior no different than my older siblings’. Every…

New Accommodations, Same Destination

The need for adaptation in my life began so quietly I often didn’t notice the accommodations I required. I started dancing at a young age, and at the end of each dance season, we had a big recital with different costumes for each performance. This created a problem when considering…

I’m Celebrating 22 Years of Survival and Counting

On May 21, I celebrated 22 years of survival. On that day many years ago, I underwent a heart catheterization. Halfway through, doctors came out to inform my parents that the only diagnosis option was pulmonary hypertension (PH). My parents had previously been told that this was the worst-case…

Why I Pay Tribute to Nurses

Having grown up with a complex diagnosis that includes pulmonary hypertension, I was always interested in the field of healthcare. I still remember being 10 years old and telling people I wanted to be a pediatric anesthesiologist when I grew up. This was because of the anesthesiologists who had been…