I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Shanna Hiemstra (317)

The phaware® interview

South African Pulmonary hypertension caregiver, Shanna Hiemstra is captain of Team PH South Africa. Since Shanna’s mother Sandra was diagnosed, Shanna has become largely involved with PHA South Africa.

My name is Shanna Hiemstra. I am part of the committee of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of South Africa. I’m based in Johannesburg, South Africa and I am the daughter of a PH patient [Sanda Small].

Pulmonary hypertension is something that is really important to me. We’re not represented well enough in South Africa. Obviously, being a rare disease, it means that there aren’t a lot of people who know about the condition. There are not that many medical practitioners who treat it and a lot of patients go undiagnosed. Thank you very much for this opportunity to chat about it, because I think that in our part of the world, it’s great when we have the opportunity to be able to reach out to more people out there.

We were actually on a family hike, which we do every year around Easter time, and my mum does…