I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Stephanie Bachelder (276)

The phaware® interview

Pulmonary Hypertension patient Stephanie Bachelder on being diagnosed with a terminal illness, the power of combination therapy and why she feels she is no longer dying of her disease, but living with it.

My name is Stephanie Bachelder and I am a pulmonary arterial hypertension patient.

For probably about 15 years, I was symptomatic, having shortness of breath, swelling of the legs. I was passing out. I had extremely high blood pressure. I was very obese, morbidly obese, and I just kept being told by my doctor that I was fat and lazy, and had asthma, and to go exercise.

I wasn’t sent to any kind of specialist or anything like that and it wasn’t until I was in complete respiratory, right heart, and kidney failure that the doctors finally looked at my case and started doing some tests, which included the echocardiogram and then the right-heart catheterization, which confirmed the diagnosis. It only took me about a month to be diagnosed once I was that sick, but again, 15 years, symptomatic with no…