With Gratitude:  Patient Stories

When someone’s blood pressure is too high or too low, it can adversely impact their health and well-being. But imagine if the same person’s BP was both too high and too low? Such was the case with Sharon Kilday, whose dangerous blood pressure spikes and crashes landed her in the Rhode Island Hospital emergency room.

From time to time over several years, Susan Anderson would find herself out of breath after minor, everyday exertions. But she lived with it; just part of getting older, she figured. She also minimized the come-and-go cough that occasionally accompanied her breathing difficulties. “Maybe I had a cold or something,” she’d tell herself. “But it’s not as bad as it was yesterday. So, it must be getting better.” 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t getting better ... or going away. 

Isabel Allaire, 24, arrived at the emergency department trembling with excruciating pain, a loss of balance, and migraine. But by the time her Rhode Island Hospital patient journey ended, this grateful patient says she was “feeling better than I have in 10 years … like nothing happened.”

But something did happen. A lot, in fact.

At nearly six months pregnant with her fourth child, Amy Donlan was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension—a rare and life-threatening condition that made even crossing a room feel impossible. Referred to Dr. Corey Ventetuolo at Rhode Island Hospital, Amy was confronted with the gravity of the situation: she was in heart failure at just 30 years old.