I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Chuck Thompson (284)

The phaware® interview

Pulmonary Hypertension caregiver Chuck Thompson discusses the importance of support groups for PH patients like his wife, Barbara.

My name is Chuck Thompson. I’m a caregiver for my wife, Barbara. I also had a mother who died from PH that I was a caregiver for, and a sister who died from pulmonary hypertension back in 1992.

Being a caregiver, we started a support group back in 2004. My wife was not supposed to make it through 2003. We got her on Tracleer, and about the time she got where she could walk and talk, she wanted to start a support group, and so we did. Officially, I haven’t been a co-leader until just last year, but I had worked a whole lot at the support group meetings. We now have, I think, 41 people that are members of our support group, and we meet once a quarter.

It really became important to me when my mother came down in 2003 for my daughter’s wedding, and I could tell that my mother had the very same symptoms that my wife had. They were giving her coumadin, and I would tell her for the…