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Parents of teens with CF often ask what they can do to help their child who is struggling to come to grips with their disease or is simply going through a rough patch. Here's some of my best advice.

As parents of kids with CF, we can make a life-transforming difference by focusing as much on their mental health as we do on their physical health. If you think your child's CF is taking an emotional toll, asking yourself these questions may help.

Finding a Balance Between CF and High School

In a culture flooded with advertisements about the perfect body, secret weight-loss tricks and fad diets, our cultural ideals of weight are often skewed to an image that is far from healthy.

When I was 13, my family went from having two seemingly normal kids to two CF patients in a manner of a few short months -- and boy, did it change everything. Because of my late diagnosis, I faced a unique set of challenges that helped make me the strong person I am today.

Time after time, cystic fibrosis has shown me that what I thought was important could change with changing circumstances.

After turning 60, I decided to mark the milestone by creating a “living list,” 60 things I could do to raise awareness and money for cystic fibrosis care.

There are a lot of misconceptions about illnesses. For one, you're supposed to look sick -- or like other people's perception of a sick person. Once I started to doubt myself and the gravity of my illness, I began internalizing a whole lot of guilt.

Watching a Bruce Lee movie inspired me to live my life on my terms.

Growing up, Keenan Flynn rejected what he saw as negative messages surrounding cystic fibrosis. Keenan credits a healthy mental attitude, and a non-acceptance of the negative messages about his health, for his physical development.