Columns

What Storm Drain Adventures Taught Me About CF Treatments

I have a story for you. In my teens, I often ditched CF treatments to explore storm drains beneath my Hawaii suburban neighborhood. When entering the concrete tunnels (maybe 15 feet in height and width), they’re so dark it feels like you’re stepping into nothing, a vortex. Many…

The Diverse Spectrum of Health Across the CF Community

If you’ve ever met more than one person with cystic fibrosis, it’s likely they had very different experiences than you. First, their approach likely will be different; chronic disease affects everyone differently mentally, so some are vocal and “embrace” it, while others are quieter and choose to consider it a…

My Search for Happier, Healthier Work

Hello there, and welcome to my column! This is a place to talk shop. Work. Jobs. Careers. Whichever term you prefer. In the not-too-distant past, I was a wide-eyed, coffee-swilling exec with a penchant for checked trousers. I worked in a trendy digital agency in London. (Trendy enough to have…

Empowering Children by Educating Them About Their CF

One of my earliest memories from elementary school was leaving class a little early before lunch to go to the nurse’s office to take my enzymes, always accompanied by a school peer. I wasn’t allowed to bring my enzymes with me to school because entrusting a young kid to take…

How Should We Approach Milestones While Grieving?

When Serena Lawrence, the late Bionews senior columns editor, responded to my email about potentially writing for Cystic Fibrosis News Today and promptly offered me a columnist position, I was awestruck. This was the first concrete (read: monetary) endorsement of my writing. My hope with this column was to…

Your CF Partner Can Help Make You Healthier

It’s true that having a partner in life can be a gift. Sharing the celebrations and sorrows makes life sweeter, especially when you’re living with CF. However, many people with CF struggle with the guilt of asking someone to tackle CF life alongside them. A relationship that includes CF almost…

People with Rare Diseases Are Humans, Not Commodities

If you keep up with CF research, you may have seen the news about Phase 3 of the triple combination Vertex therapies. In these results, patients had a robust lung function boost after trialing a triple combination therapy treatment. More importantly, these results were tested in a broad population…