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Michael
Each week we feature a dude in the CF community on our IG channel, to see original post click here.
Oi! It’s our first MCM of July and we’re STOKED to have Michael to tell us 3 important things about his life with CF. @mshea1990 is 29 years old and is from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. Remember to answer his Q in the comments!
😉I was diagnosed with CF at 11 years old and my parents were made to feel paranoid about my stomach aches growing up. In my last year of primary school I suffered my first chest infection and was bed bound for two weeks. Coincidentally, my sister was studying CF in biology, she brought her book home and relayed the symptoms to my parents. Realising that this may be a possibility, they returned to the doctors and thus I was finally diagnosed. Those 11 years without medication, I truly believe, have made me stronger!
😉I was a very active child and believe that my love of football kept me healthy as it’s all I would play growing up. My lung function was always in the high 90s! I was in my first year of college at 16 years old when my lung function started to drop rapidly without my doctors being able to understand why. This went on for a year until I coughed up roughly a pint of blood while working out at the gym! I was put on IV’s and booked in for a bronchoscopy the next day. My lung function had dropped to 21%. We discovered that I had a Mycobacterium abscessus that had been destroying my lungs for a year and caused irreversible scarring. I underwent IV treatments for 18 months…this totally flipped my life, my routines and me as a person! This was the first time I felt the mental side effects of CF and my mental health was affected.
😉Since my last admission (10 years ago) I have maintained a stable lung capacity at 50%. I am happily married and work full time (not so happy ). We have our own home and look forward to the future – ideally traveling a lot more of this amazing world. When I walked out of the hospital the last time I vowed to keep myself as well as possible and will continue to do so for the future.
I believe that Cfers are given this life as we are strong enough to handle it, and truly believe that it’s up to us to make the best of the bad hands that we are dealt. How do you make your hand better? -
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