31 Days of CF: Moving Forward, One Step at a Time

Photo courtesy of Amanda Biederman

Day 16 of 31

This is Amanda Biederman’s story:

Hi, I’m Amanda! I was diagnosed with CF when I was 4 years old. I am now 32 and CF has taken me on quite the rocky journey, as it has for many of us.

In high school, my lungs started requiring IV antibiotics about every six months. Once in college, that need became more and more frequent. After graduating college and working as an oncology nurse, CF progressed quickly, despite my best efforts.

At 28, I found myself in end-stage lung disease, dependent on supplemental oxygen. My job, my independence, my plans, my breath, and nearly my life were stripped away from me.

On Jan. 2, 2019, I received a life-saving double-lung transplant. What an incredible gift — someone else’s lungs giving me new breath! I began trying to rebuild the pieces of my life that CF had dismantled.

Still, my plans were altered again when nine months later I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. My body responded very well to months of treatment, and I have been cancer-free since fall 2020.

Here we are in 2022. This past year has been the first in over a decade that I have not been hospitalized! When I look at my life now, there are so many good things. There is stability for the first time in a very long time. I am working as a nurse again and relearning how to visualize a future after my brain prohibited me from doing so for so long. Stability, I have found, is anxiety-provoking when all you’ve known is the fight for survival. Still, it’s a gift I’m not entitled to.

I am learning to move forward into my future, one step at a time.

Cystic Fibrosis News Today’s 31 Days of CF campaign will publish one story per day for Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month in May. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more stories like this, using the hashtag #31DaysofCF, or read the full series.