My name is Heather Phillips, My story started in about 2003 when I lost my brother to a very rare lung disease. He was only 18 years old. He went in to the hospital with shortness of breath in about august 2002, he turned 18 on october 18th and passed away jan.1st 2003. It was very hard to cope with since it all happened so fast. It was a very sad time.
I started dating my now husband in 2006 and we got married in 2009. He makes my world so happy. We lived life to its fullest and had our first baby in march 2010. We continued to hike and travel with our son Corbin and life was pretty amazing. In Jan 2011 I found out I was pregnant with our second and we couldn't be happier. Half way through my pregnancy I started to feel short of breath. I went into the hospital and my oxygen levels were so low that I was in and out of hospital stays for the rest of my pregnancy. I was very lucky to bring a very healthy baby girl into the world in Sept.2011.
Since the doctors were unable to do testing while I was pregnant they had no idea what was wrong, so after I had Keira I went back to the hospital to have a lung biopsy done. Come to find out I have a very rare lung disease called Constrictive Bronchialitis. There is no cure for this disease and it is what my brother had. I also have developed pulmonary hypertension in my heart. I now have to carry around an oxygen tank every where I go. I'm on the lung transplant list at the university of washington medical center. Life is very different now, I cant hike or run around with my kids. I'm so thankful for my amazing husband and family support. I decided to document my journey by getting a tattoo of lungs on my arm. Its done as a birds nests, with the 3 birds one that represents me, my brother and one for my family.
This is a journey that's not over for me but I am still one of the luckiest girls in the world. :) Thank you for reading my story.
Check out heatherslungs.com and jmichealarts.com for the full in depth story on me and my amazing brother.
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