Understanding Nonsense - a Column by Willian Ryan

You’re probably aware of the proverb “It takes a village,” which highlights that having a community is necessary for accomplishing tasks or goals or advancing a cause. For people like me who have cystic fibrosis (CF), making progress with disease funding, research, and care has certainly required a village.

At 31, I still love basketball, and I’ve been a New York Knicks fan for 25 years. For the first 21 years of my fandom, the franchise was a model of instability and getting in its own way. I try to approach my health in the exact opposite manner, which…

One of the “pleasantries” of life with cystic fibrosis (CF) is navigating cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD). I’ve been periodically dealing with it since the summer of 2007. For the last two and a half years, though, it’s stayed with me like an unwanted memento. As I…

I sat at the head of the table in my workplace conference room and looked out the window, trying to grasp what I needed to do during my break. The problem was, I couldn’t remember. Instead, I just kept looking out the window as Pixies’ “Where Is My…

I’ve been away for a while, but not because I wanted to be. While I’d love to say I stepped away for something exciting, the only fun I had was seeing the film “Training Day,” starring Denzel Washington, and binge-watching TV shows from 20 years ago. It wasn’t…

While scrolling through social media this morning, I learned that the rapper Fat Joe’s eldest son, Joey, is autistic. He wished his son a happy birthday and posted a nice message. The first comment I saw was from someone complaining that Fat Joe has never spoken…

We spend much of life transitioning between roles. Nothing is supposed to last forever, and the time you spend in one role is already preparing you for the next. Aware or not, I’ve been preparing to become an advocate, for myself and others, all of my life. As an adult…

Nana’s husband, my grandfather Bob, passed away a little less than three months before she found herself standing in the maternity ward of a New York hospital. There she stared at her new grandson, hoping and praying that he’d live as normal and healthy a life as God would grant…

When I was in my late teens and early 20s, before I met my wife, I would go anywhere and do anything at a moment’s notice. Staying out until 3 a.m. at a random bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side? No problem. Watching a friend’s band play in a basement…

Growing up, I hated my birthday. It brought a wave of attention from everyone I knew and, more importantly, made me think about my mortality. People with cystic fibrosis (CF) are all too aware of death and the likelihood of dying young. Patients are reminded of it when fellow…