I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Darren Bell (239)

The phaware® interview

Darren Bell is a former PHA Canada President and Chair of the Board of Directors. One of PHA Canada’s founding board members, Darren joined the PH community when his son Dylan was diagnosed with IPAH in 1998. Dylan lost his battle with PAH in 2007 at the age of 12, two years after his younger brother Hunter passed away from an acute intestinal illness at the age of 7.

My name is Darren Bell. I am a founding board member of PHA Canada. I have been involved with the organization since its inception in 2008. I first came into the pulmonary hypertension arena via my son being diagnosed. Dylan was three years old, diagnosed in 1998, ended up going to see Dr. Robyn Barst in New York. He was diagnosed and subsequently put on IV prostacyclin — Flolan.

We went to many US conferences, which were great. I think we attended six conferences and really saw the sense of community and also identified that that community, or that need for community, existed in Canada and was not currently something that the landscape had. There were support groups…