Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA UK)<\/a>, a national charity working from Chapeltown, that supports people affected by the condition.<\/p>\nPaula, a former pub landlady and grandmother of two, was diagnosed with PH in 2007.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI don\u2019t look poorly, so it\u2019s hard for people to understand I have such a serious disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lived it for 18 years now and the symptoms are my whole life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I wasn\u2019t so breathless, and so exhausted all the time, I could do so much more and I could be so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/JS386242455.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Paula (pictured above) had a full and busy life before becoming ill, but her symptoms now stop her from enjoying what most people take for granted – including days out with family, social events with friends, and the ability to breathe freely.<\/p>\n
Even a simple supermarket trip can mean an afternoon in bed with oxygen therapy to recover.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paula said: \u201cI had to retire at the age of 40 because of PH and I\u2019d love to be well enough to work again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel I\u2019m not giving anything back to society and that\u2019s something I really struggle with.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut having a job is impossible because the breathlessness can come on at any time – one minute I\u2019m fine, and the next I\u2019m clutching my chest and can\u2019t even talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople often stare if it happens in public and even after 18 years it\u2019s hard for my husband to understand, let alone anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paula receives treatment at the Sheffield Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit, which is based within the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and is one of only eight specialist PH treatment centres in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Continuous intravenous medication is pumped into her chest by a line connected to a medical device, which she must carry 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n
There is no cure for the disease and Paula knows that it will shorten her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PH affects just 8,000 people in the UK and those with the condition live with severe breathlessness and fatigue.<\/p>\n
Other symptoms include chest pain, dizziness, and swelling of the legs, ankles, feet or abdomen.<\/p>\n
Although it can be connected to some other diseases, many people – like Paula – develop PH \u2018out of nowhere\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/JS386242324.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dr Iain Armstrong (pictured above), Consultant Nurse in PH at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and Chairman of the PHA UK, said: \u201cLike Paula, people with PH are forced to cope with hugely challenging symptoms – and they often face judgement by others as they don\u2019t \u2018look ill\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important for the general public to understand that not all disabilities are visible, and as cliched as it is, we all just need to be a bit kinder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to Paula for sharing her story to raise vital awareness of this rare disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the PHA UK. To find out more about pulmonary hypertension, visit www.phauk.org<\/a><\/p>\nLocation: Sheffield, South Yorkshire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RAISING AWARENESS: Grenoside-based Paula Hartley, 55, has pulmonary hypertension (Images: Your Story Studios) A Sheffield grandmother with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,12893,1620,91174,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-539429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-inyourarea-community","12":"tag-sheffield","13":"tag-south-yorkshire","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115467816119574293","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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