I’m fifty years old and about two years ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. It is a common situation that many adults my age are living through today. As a wife and mother of four, my days are hectic and stressful. Between picking up my kids from school, cleaning, cooking, and taking care of my eight year old daughter, I have no "me" time. Sometimes I go hours with a tension headache from all the worrying I do. Since I had my daughter at a very late age, sometimes I feel like I can’t keep up with all of her activities. She is so energetic that I can’t help thinking “I’m too old for this”. My three other children are all teenagers and the oldest one is on her own. This gives me even more worries. My second oldest daughter is fifteen and learning how to drive. As the years go on my problems keep on getting bigger, and my high blood pressure never seems to let me forget it. I love my children very much, and I would like to be in a better mood and feel younger. This is why I take my medicine, but in between my husband’s cholesterol medicine and trips to the doctor for my kids my medicine seems to be getting squeezed out of my budget. I also don’t have health insurance, making my problems seem never ending. I think this is a great opportunity, and hopefully I will be able to keep taking my medicine, even though I don’t have money for it.
Maria Laredo, Houston, Texas