Tré LaRosa is a scientific project manager, patient advocate, and writer. He has cystic fibrosis (CF) and carries two copies of the F508del mutation. He’s been on Trikafta since 2019. He writes about science, living with CF, grief, family, and everything in between in an effort to get you thinking about what it means to be human. He lives in Arlington, Virginia with his fiancée Jessica and their two wonderful, lazy dogs, Duncan and Leo. He enjoys playing sports, being outdoors, and reading — and especially buying more books.
Like many others, I never want to feel like cystic fibrosis (CF) is holding me back in any way. Yet the condition has shaped many of my experiences and taught me so much,…
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Based on the stringent qualifications the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation uses to determine who has cystic fibrosis, approximately 70,000 people currently have CF worldwide. That includes 30,000-35,000 in the United States. In this broad…
I have a productivity complex: I feel like if I’m not being productive, I’m wasting my time. And yet, whenever I accomplish something, I don’t bask in the enjoyment of accomplishing that…
We all play different roles in our lives: We are friends, children, siblings, parents, cousins, employees, and more. In each of these roles, we assume the jargon of that role when we…
For nearly three years, I’ve worked alongside brilliant CF doctors, scientists, and PhDs at a great research hospital. Before that, during college, I worked closely with CF scientists and PhDs at the…
The CF community’s strength is in its powerful, far-spread voice. For people with a chronic disease, and doubly so when that chronic disease is rare like CF, it is critical for the…
I consider myself a conversation-starter. I like discussing serious topics and sharing my genuine feelings and thoughts with others. I enjoy talking about sports, engaging in light banter, and dissecting the plots…
I walk two paths: One is that of logic in my career as a scientist. In this field, it’s critical to remove emotion from the picture as much as possible. I work…
One of the first fiction books I read in adulthood was a book called “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” by Michael Chabon. The story of how I came across…
During my sophomore year of college, the background on my computer screen was a cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein, specifically a visualization of its quaternary structure. It looked something like…
In high school, I aspired to be a pulmonologist for obvious reasons: I wanted to aid the CF community by directly helping patients. It seemed logical. I dreamed of becoming a pulmonologist…
It was unlikely that my parents would bear two children with CF. When both parents carry a CF mutation but don’t have the disease itself, there is a 1 in 4 chance…
It’s hard to understate the benefits of exercise for healthy people, let alone people with CF. According to the Mayo Clinic, some of these benefits include: It controls weight. It combats health…
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