This is me...and that's what I have.

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But I have a lot of other things besides CF...
like a great family, for instance.

Here I am with my Mom, my Dad,
and that's my brother Nick right in the middle.

When I was a little girl, I didn't think having Cystic Fibrosis--CF for short--was so bad. Because of my CF, I got to do many fun things, like going on the TV show, "Family Feud" as the CF Poster Child, being given a miniature pinscher puppy (I named him Noodles), and getting to go to Disney World with my whole family for five whole days! I also have a lot of fun at the CF camp, for a week every summer.

The only bad part about having CF then was having treatments a couple of times a day to help me breathe, and something called chest PT to help me to clear out my lungs. See, that's a big problem with this disease. It's very easy for my lungs to get all clogged up, so that when I try to breathe air in, just like you, it has a tough time getting through. I also have to take a lot of pills every day, but that seems normal for me since I always had to do it.

Here's one of the things that happens with CF. When *you* get a cold, you get better pretty quickly. When I get sick with a bad cough, I need to get special medicines that go in my veins (do you know what veins are?), and sometimes I need to go to the hospital to get better. At least I've gotten used to the hospital. The nurses are real nice, and I even go to school there when I'm in for awhile.
 

Cystic fibrosis is something that I didn't ask for, and something that I can't give away. You can't catch it from me, though, so don't worry. If you're ever around a kid with CF who's coughing a lot, you don't have to worry about getting this yucky disease.
 
 

 

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