Columns

Why I Broke the ‘6 Feet Apart’ Rule

Staying 6 feet apart is not new to me. It’s not new because I have atypical cystic fibrosis and have been doing it for years. Most people know about this rule by now. They’ve either lived it, heard it (backwashed in this very column), or seen it in a…

How a Blood Donor Saved My Life

Hearing the words “blood transfusion” still sends chills down my spine. The emotional response my entire body felt when I heard those words for the first time from a doctor is still traumatic. “I wasn’t supposed to get one of these,” I thought. I had just had a double-lung transplant…

I Am a Lung Transplant Recipient, and I Had COVID-19

At the start of November, I was infected with COVID-19. My heart rammed repeatedly and rapidly against my sternum, which had been broken four years earlier by lung transplant surgeons. I was dizzy, reeling from the local health department’s phone call informing me of my exposure to a person with…

Yes, I Will Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

I can’t remember when I first fell in love with science. I loved learning about it and going on field trips, but I didn’t enjoy science fairs because I missed hanging out with my friends (although I did place second at a science fair with some assistance from my dad).

The Existential Crisis of Going From Dying to Living

Imagine living your whole life knowing you have an early expiration date. Then you wake up one morning, and that’s no longer the case. Sounds great, right? Of course it is, but it’s so much more complicated than that. I never would have understood before living through it. Trikafta…

Birthdays Are Bittersweet

Most people hate the attention birthdays bring. I get it. It’s only in recent years that the meaning of birthdays has shifted for me. Prior to my double-lung transplant three years ago, every year of life felt like a feat. Now, every birthday is icing on the cake — literally.

Maybe I Should Stop Writing This Column

I don’t want to write this column. OK, for the sake of my editors, let’s be clear: I love this column and this company and this job. I am so lucky to have it, and I honestly can’t imagine how I’d get through parts of life without a consistent…