I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Shaye Wallace (241)

The phaware® interview

Pulmonary hypertension patient, Shaye Wallace discusses her diagnosis at age 10, why she chose a Potts shunt surgery and how she’s battling the depression that comes with living with PH.

My name is Shaye Wallace and I am from Houston, Texas, and I have pulmonary hypertension.

I was ten years old and I fell in school. I tripped over a backpack in gym class. I had fallen, and the wind got knocked out of me and I basically passed out. I ended up going to the hospital, because I complained of severe back pain. I went to Texas Children’s Hospital emergency room. Basically, they saw something on the X-Ray and they thought something was wrong with my spine. The ER referred me to the Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic they have there.

I started out on the oral medications. It wasn’t really working, so then I switched to an IV pump. It took a while to get setup on the pump, but then eventually I got on the right dose and I just stayed on it for a while. Then I switched to a smaller pump which is the Chrono 5.