I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Laura Rivera (247)

The phaware® interview

Patient Laura Rivera has contended with Pulmonary Hypertension for 24 years. She hasn’t let the disease stop her from achieving her goals. Laura will be receiving her Bachelors Degree in nursing in a few weeks time and beginning her graduate studies in the fall.

My name is Laura Rivera and I’m a pulmonary hypertension patient.

We need to get the word out so that people understand this illness. I was diagnosed back in 1995 when it was rare. There was only one medication and no one really knew about it. I was diagnosed by Dr. Robyn Barst and she really helped me understand and she walked me through how to handle this illness when it was so brand new back then.

The sooner you know what’s going on with you, the sooner you can get on medication and start feeling better. I was diagnosed by fluke. I was doing a medical assisting program, and the professor who was teaching us how to read EKGs was a cardiologist himself. When he read my EKG, he was like, “Oh no, there’s something wrong with you. You need to go see a…