31 Days of CF: Kate’s Story

by Luisa Palazola | June 17, 2019

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Day 13 of 31 Days of CF ⁣ Topic: Opening up about CF ⁣ ⁣ I’m Kate Eveling, and I’m 25 years old. I’ll get straight to the point, growing up I would always hide my cystic fibrosis from people especially at school. ⁣I was so scared that I would be judged and bullied and no one would want to be my friend. So I successfully hid it from most people (a few close friends knew/found out! But that’s a different story!) ⁣Despite hiding it from people, I’d still take my meds and nebs when I was home… physio varied! It wasn’t till I was 23 did this change. I’ve always loved creating, so when I first thought of starting a blog/YouTube channel to show my side of CF (or the view from the other side aka @thevftos), I actually felt excited, and not dread! Say whaaaaaat! ⁣I realised that I could use my CF as a creative lightsaber and not as a weapon of self destruction. ⁣ So I started to cut down those overgrown weeds of negativity and guess what? I openly disclosed to all my friends on Facebook that yes, I have cystic fibrosis. I released my blog and YouTube channel at the same time and double guess what? The people who I was so afraid of telling, were so supportive and kind. One school friend said, I had no idea you had CF, but even if I did in school, it wouldn’t have made a difference… Wow! It was overwhelming and the best thing I’ve done so far. It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. So I decided to keep going. I started up my YouTube channel for 3 main reasons:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ???? Firstly I wanted to raise awareness for cystic fibrosis and also lighten the situation with a bit of humour!⁣⁣ ????Secondly, I wanted to open up about my side of CF and not for people to google the generic facts. ⁣⁣ ????Thirdly, I did it for myself. Creating videos about CF in a humorous way, helps me to deal with it.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Creativity is my lightsaber, and it’s essential to me in my battle with cystic fibrosis. ⁣ What’s your lightsaber? ⁣

A post shared by CFNewsToday (@cfnewstoday) on May 13, 2019 at 1:33pm PDT

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About the Author

Luisa Palazola Luisa Palazola is a 25-year-old with CF living in Memphis, Tennessee. She injects her perspective as a Hispanic woman and her love for life and stories in all her interactions. In her downtime, she's learning Portuguese and is an avid coffee lover.