Brad Dell,  —

Many label their lives with cystic fibrosis a “battle.” I prefer “war.”* There’s the daily grind: The clinic visits are strategic meetings. The treatments are patrols. The two-week antibiotic courses are skirmishes. Then there are the defining moments of the war — the brutal flare-ups when bacteria or…

In ancient home videos of the Dell family, there’s shot after shot of my sister Shelby clinging to me tightly while I cringe. That was a good illustration of our relationship, until recently. I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis a few months after…

I’d been anticipating my bilateral cochlear implant surgery for more than a year. I knew it required some drilling into my skull, cuts behind the ear, and having devices shoved into my cochlea. I did not expect to be restricted to Tylenol…

Only 61.8 percent of cystic fibrosis patients comply with their daily respiratory medication and 41.2 percent comply with physiotherapy plans, according to a 2008 study. I’ve observed that most patients and their parents want to be perfectly compliant — they just haven’t formed good strategies for…

You’ll meet legions of doctors throughout your life with cystic fibrosis. You’ll encounter doctors you adore and who will save your life countless times. And you’ll encounter some who make life a nightmare. Here are six “characters” you’re bound to meet, plus things they’re likely to say, at…

Dear parent, I know you’re afraid. My parents were afraid, too. My mom left a college biology class crying; the lesson on genetics included the life expectancy of a child with cystic fibrosis. There’s an old home video of her talking to Baby Bradley before I was diagnosed. I was…

I fought cystic fibrosis for 15 years before the overwhelming burden collapsed. My family was driving to get dinner when my brain and heart suddenly exploded. I was sobbing and gasping for breath, able to hear every rapid pound of my heart against my ribs. I couldn’t think,…

Most of last summer was spent either in a hospital bed or lying on my couch — the couch I had watched my cat dying on just months before. I wasn’t in much better condition than my cat. I thought I was defeated, broken. The most activity I had in…