A family from Halesowen are raising awareness about pulmonary hypertension following the recent death of their mother after a two-decade struggle with the life-limiting condition.
Deborah Wells, aged 68, passed away on 2 August 2026 after living with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) for 20 years. PAH is an incurable illness that causes the arteries in the lungs to narrow and thicken, significantly affecting breathing and overall health.
In Deborah’s memory, the Wells family are raising funds for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK (PHA UK), the only charity in the country dedicated to supporting individuals impacted by this condition. The organisation provided vital support throughout Deborah’s illness, helping arrange treatments, resources, and financial aid.
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Jodie Rees-Wells, Deborah’s daughter, expressed gratitude: “They supported us with everything; they arranged all of mum’s oxygen, and kept trialling different things on her – they were really good with us.”
Pulmonary hypertension affects about one in every 20,000 people in the UK. Symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, and dizziness often resemble those of other common ailments, resulting in delays in diagnosis.
Deborah was first diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension two decades ago but received limited information about the condition’s severity until a family trip to Canada in 2018. During the visit, she suffered episodes of fainting and vomiting. Upon return to the UK, she was promptly diagnosed with a rarer and more severe form of the disease - pulmonary arterial hypertension.
In 2019, doctors gave Deborah a prognosis of five years to live due to severe PAH, a variant whose symptoms often only become evident in advanced stages.
Alongside PAH, Deborah battled CREST syndrome, scleroderma, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), blood vessel disease, and heart failure. She had also overcome breast cancer, having undergone a major operation in 2006 that involved removing lymph nodes from her left arm.
One of the family’s greatest challenges during Deborah’s declining health was securing funding and support, a struggle compounded by a lack of awareness among local authorities, hospitals, and ambulance services about her condition.
Jodie shared: “It’s really hard to get funding; you have to jump through so many hoops to get anything that would help – we’ve had to fight for absolutely everything.
“A lot of organisations don’t understand the disease, like the Department for Work and Pensions; they don’t understand it, so we couldn’t get any funding for her. We had to attend meeting after meeting to prove she had this condition and how life-limiting it really is.
“We fought so hard to get all the equipment she needed, and we even had to buy our own stair lift.”
In May of this year, Deborah became bedbound and was given just two months to live. During her final months, she created a bucket list, which included revisiting her favourite childhood holiday spot in the Norfolk Broads.
While on this family holiday, her condition worsened, and she later passed away following a seizure.
Jodie reflected: “My mum always said she wouldn’t wish this condition on her worst enemy.
“She always wanted to go on holidays and make memories with her family in those last moments, but we didn’t receive any help to do that, so we had to manage it ourselves.
“She wanted to raise money to help other families have a last holiday or memory together – she hoped to support as many families as possible.”
Deborah was married to Peter Wells for 27 years and was the devoted mother of four daughters: Jodie Rees-Wells, Natalie Rees, Sophie Rees-Wells, and Tiffanie Rees-Wells.
Her funeral was held on 25 August, with friends and family encouraged to donate to the fundraising efforts in her honour.