About Emma
Sleep apnea changed the course of my life.
After years of living with sleep apnea, asking questions and hearing from other patients, I knew I wanted to help make the experience less confusing and isolating for others.
It started with
a terrifying
wake-up call.
I was 30 years old when I fell asleep at the wheel with my baby in the car.
We narrowly avoided a collision. I had gone undiagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea for 10 years at that point. At last I had a diagnosis that explained how I had been feeling.
The diagnosis explained a lot. It also left me with an entirely new set of questions.
I wanted to understand what was happening in my body, what my treatment options were and how other people managed the everyday reality of living with sleep apnea. I went looking for honest information and people who understood.
That search changed the direction of my life.
In 2020, I launched the Sleep Apnea Stories podcast and began building a community on Instagram.
The podcast gave people living with sleep apnea a place to speak honestly about diagnosis, treatment and everything that comes with it. It also gave me the opportunity to ask medical, dental, and surgical experts the questions patients were googling and asking in online forums.
Since then, I’ve spoken with patients, physicians, dentists, researchers and other healthcare providers to shine a light on life with sleep apnea and all the available treatment options. Every conversation has reinforced the same thing: patients need good information, but they also need to feel heard.
My current role
My advocacy eventually led me to Project Sleep, a national nonprofit patient advocacy organization dedicated to raising awareness of sleep health, sleep equity and sleep disorders.
I began as a volunteer board member and now serve as Sleep Apnea Program Manager. In that role, I lead the Sleep Apnea Squad, providing free educational resources for people navigating sleep apnea, the Sleep Apnea: Let’s Face It! awareness campaign, and “Coffee with Emma,” a monthly group Zoom call for sleep apnea support.
A little more about me
My accent is weird. There's no getting around it. I was born and raised in Dunblane, Scotland, and attended the University of Aberdeen where I studied Law and Economics. I met my husband, Jason, in a Glaswegian nightclub called "The Shed," and we got married a stone's throw from the house I grew up in - think Americans in kilts and cold weather in July! We moved to St Augustine, Florida, in 2007 and have lived in the same home ever since, adding two wonderful daughters and a rambunctious Goldendoodle named Bear along the way. With one kid in college and one in high school, I'm rediscovering what I like to do with my free time after years as a mom with busy kids. For now, I love reading hockey romance novels by the pool, painting by numbers, and very difficult puzzles.