Sometimes when I think about the symptoms of pulmonary hypertension — dizziness, shortness of breath, dry cough, and chest pain — I wonder if my diagnosis had just been waiting a decade to hear its name. When I was in my teens and early 20s, I loved the rush of…
PHighting Words — Mike Naple
Mike Naple (he/him) lives in Washington, D.C., but calls San Diego, California, home. Mike was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in 2016. He also manages living with interstitial lung disease, sleep apnea, scoliosis, and a stutter. These chronic conditions are mostly invisible except for when Mike uses oxygen therapy while engaged in rigor exercise or activity. Mike is a public affairs and communications professional who still works full time. He is excited for readers to join him as he navigates the intersections of disability, chronic illness, rare disease, public policy advocacy, and living with PH.
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Audiences are flocking to movie theaters this spring to see “Project Hail Mary.” Readers, myself included, gobbled up Taylor Jenkins Reid’s latest novel, “Atmosphere” — a tale of astronauts in love. People were glued to their televisions as NASA launched the Artemis II mission into space. Traveling to…
The office looked like an Ikea showroom. I didn’t know what I was going to say, or how he would respond. It was my first time seeing a therapist and I found myself there at the urging of loved ones. At this point, in May 2016, I was a little…
I didn’t know what pulmonary hypertension was before my diagnosis. When I would tell friends and family about the disease, almost all of them learned about it for the first time through those conversations. As I began adjusting to life with PH, vigorously searching for stories of other people facing…
Greetings! If you’re reading this post you most likely are: Living with pulmonary hypertension; have a loved one, family member or friend who is fighting this rare disease; a healthcare provider; or have joined the fight to find a cure in some advocacy or research capacity. Whoever you are…
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