![]() Sue remembers having everything that was known about the condition at the time carefully explained to her by the ‘fantastic’ team of specialists. “I had never heard of PH of course and I felt so awful that I’d always been chivvying Richard along, thinking he was being lazy,” recalled Sue. However, it wasn’t until he was nine, following a spell in hospital in Middlesbrough, that he was referred to the specialist PH centre at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, where a right heart catheterisation procedure confirmed the condition. As he got older, Richard was unable to join in normal activities with his older brother and sister, Joe and Emma. Richard twice collapsed at school during PE lessons but doctors insisted he was suffering from a virus. ![]() I did it and then went on other scarier rides!” Richard first showed signs of having PH while at nursery school but, like many parents in their position, Sue and Richard’s dad, Paul, were told his breathlessness was due to minor conditions. As I walked up the steps, I really didn’t want to go on but I felt I had to do it for him. “I had never heard of PH of course and I felt so awful that I’d always been chivvying Richard along, thinking he was being lazy.” “When I got the chance to go, I decided I wanted to try the rollercoaster and ride it for Richard. The Harry Potter films were among films we enjoyed watching together, along with the Lord of the Rings series. He said when it opened that it was something he was going to do one day. “Richard would have loved to have gone to the Harry Potter park. She said: “There were a lot of times when our family visited theme parks and Richard and I would sit out the rides, him because he couldn’t go on and me because I didn’t like them. She was determined to overcome her trepidation of the thrill-seekers’ ride in her son’s honour. Because of his illness Richard wasn’t able to fulfil his dream of visiting the theme park, so Sue strongly felt the significance of her trip. Richard was a huge Harry Potter fan and he and Sue loved to watch films in the J.K. It was two years following Richard’s death when she was about to step on to a rollercoaster at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida. There are many occasions when his mum Sue thinks about him, but one moment has particular significance. Richard White, from Redcar, in the North East, sadly passed away in 2014, aged 22, after battling pulmonary hypertension for most of his life.
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