I was nervous about deciding to go to college — how would CF and the intensity of college fit together? There have been more than a few bumps along the way, but I’ve learned that through everything, I got this.
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I initially struggled with how to share about my cystic fibrosis with people I met when I started college. Here’s what I learned.
I felt unrelenting hope watching the first plenary of this year’s North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference. As I learned about progress that has been made in sickle cell disease, and how those learnings may help us develop a genetic therapy for CF, it showed me that the CF community is supporting people like me who can’t take modulators.
When I was in college, I wanted to do it all and my health wasn’t as much of a priority anymore. I learned to accept that things will not always go according to plan and to integrate routine in my life to ensure my health comes first.
When I went off to college it was up to me to manage my cystic fibrosis for the first time without help from my family. I felt fine after skipping my medications and decided to stop using my noisy vest because it embarrassed me, and I wanted to make friends at my new school. As a result, I stayed in the hospital for a few weeks and left with a new perspective on life.
La fibrosis quística (FQ) es una enfermedad genética. Escuche las presentaciones de los expertos, el Doctor Fadel Ruiz, director del centro de fibrosis quística de Baylor y el Doctor Carlos Milla, director del centro de fibrosis quística de Stanford y sus respuestas a las principales preguntas de la comunidad sobre terapias genéticas para la FQ. El panel fue moderado por Sylvia Mazuera, madre de dos hijos, el menor de los cuales tiene FQ.
From a young age, I was determined that cystic fibrosis would never stop me from pursuing my dreams in the medical field. It wasn’t until I hit a road bump in pharmacy school that I realized my CF could actually give me a unique advantage.
As cystic fibrosis damaged my lungs, I did all I could to make it to my university graduation before I underwent lung transplant.