Columns

After I had flown under the radar for three years to avoid it, COVID-19 eventually hit me like a ton of bricks last January. Having cystic fibrosis (CF) and transplanted lungs added to the fear of what this virus might do to me. It started on a Thursday…

Note: This column includes thoughts about suicide. Resources for help are listed at the end. The Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t always based in sunny LA. Formerly the Brooklyn Dodgers, and affectionately known as “Dem Bums,” the team was beloved by all in the New York borough, including my…

I’ve been thinking about the weather and how it affects the body. Despite all the beauty that April brings, the warmer weather that signals to the flowers and trees that it’s time to bud again, spring is my least favorite season because it’s the time of year when my sinuses…

Since my recovery from a life-threatening sepsis attack on my gallbladder and appendix in 2019, I’ve slowly begun to put together my family’s history, going back to Ireland. The attack triggered an urgency within me to get the full picture of who I am and who my family is and…

“It’s a great time to be born with cystic fibrosis.” I remember hearing this sentence from the head nurse during the first clinic of our daughter, Claire. At the time, it felt like they were just words meant to comfort a new cystic fibrosis (CF) mom. Maybe I was…

Perhaps the most pertinent word to describe National Donate Life Month in April is “hope.” People waiting on the transplant list, their loved ones, medical professionals, and donor families all experience it to different degrees. Each brings a unique voice to the word as it relates to organ donation.

There are certain albums that have withstood the test of time and become legendary as they’re passed down from one generation to the next. That list includes, but isn’t limited to, The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours,” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”…

Doctor appointments at a cystic fibrosis (CF) clinic are a normal part of my medical routine, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t anxiety-inducing. After being weighed and getting my oxygen saturation, temperature, and heart rate read like the back of a baseball card, I begin to psych myself up…

At the opening of Judeo-Christian Scriptures, the Creator lovingly forms humankind, then crafts and blesses the Sabbath, a sacred day set aside for rest. Rest filled humankind’s first full day. Before people were doing, they were being, and for this alone they were beloved. It’s the portrait of a…

When my daughter, Claire, was in the neonatal intensive care unit, I was lead counsel on a case that had made its way to federal court. I prepared for the case at Claire’s bedside between breaks of the nurses cycling in and PICC lines beeping around me. Somehow I…