Raising Awareness for an incurable lung disease

“On the 31^st of October, I was chasing my daughter around the house to get ready for Halloween, I chased her up the stairs and passed out in my bedroom.  She was six at the time, and she called 911”

Prior to that fateful night in 2015, Ella Macleod had been experiencing shortness of breath and dizziness for some time, but it was only after seeing a specialist at St. Boniface Hospital that Ella realized, she had been living with a rare, deadly disease without even knowing it.

“[I] did a bunch of testing for the next two weeks, and found that I had Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, which is basically high blood pressure for the lungs which will back up the right side of the heart,” explained Macleod.

At just 46-years-old, Macleod was given just two years to live, an unthinkable reality with two young daughters at home.

“You worry about what’s going. Am I going to be there for their weddings? Their graduations?”

Thankfully the mother of three has been given a second lease on life following a successful lung transplant, but admits she wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of her family.

“There were weak moments, but I wouldn’t have gotten through it without my family,” said Macleod.

Her husband Delbert Hickman, was by her side throughout her battle and says the difference between before and after surgery has been stunning.

“Unlike most people, she couldn’t even walk down the block to get her child to school before the lung transplant, and now she keeps up with each and every one of us,” explained Hickman.

But while the worst appears to be behind her, Macleod knows there are more people just like her, who are dealing with the effects of PAH without even being aware.

“At the time of my diagnosis, they estimated that 10 thousand diagnoses were being made a year.  And there were perhaps another 10 thousand undiagnosed or misdiagnosed because it can mimic so many diseases.”