I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Dawn Meador (302)

The phaware® interview

In this episode long-term pulmonary hypertension patient, Dawn Meador discusses PH diagnosis as well as her decision to adopt a child, post dx with her third husband.

My name is Dawn Meador. I currently live in Virginia. I was diagnosed in April of 1998, so I have had pulmonary hypertension for a little over 21 years.

When I first noticed that something major was wrong, I had a nine month old at the time, and I was carrying her in Walmart in her little pumpkin seat and I got to thinking, “I can’t breathe. What is going on here?” You could literally see my shirt moving, my heart was beating so hard. So, the next day she had a doctor’s appointment and I mentioned something about it to the doctor, because it was our family physician. From there, he did testing and then sent me to a heart specialist. They basically tried to tell me I didn’t have a chance. I wasn’t going to make it. I was going to have to have a transplant. There was no other ifs, ands or buts.