I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Justin Gulliver (322)

The phaware® interview

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION:
Justin Gulliver is a pulmonary hypertension patient from New Zealand as well as a health social worker primarily working with people who have chronic and long term health conditions. Justin discusses being on both side of the health system in NZ. He also discusses the impact that social distancing is having on his practice in a time of coronavirus. #phaware #COVID19

My name is Justin Gulliver and I live in Wellington, which is in New Zealand. I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in November of 2018, but I’d had some problems, probably symptoms for a lot longer than that. It all started when I was about 11 years old and I got a virus that kept me in hospital for quite a long time. That virus caused some problems to my liver, which turned into portal hypertension about 11 years later. Then over time, that’s gradually developed into pulmonary hypertension.

Portal hypertension is caused by problems with the liver. Most commonly, it’s caused by cirrhosis of the liver, but…