Hi, I'm Jackie!
  Thanks for reading my story. My name is Jackie, and I'm almost 12-years-old (in 2002). You probably are wondering why I wanted to have my own web page on Band-Aides, so I'll tell you that first. I thought it would be a good way to remind everybody in the world to be nice to each other, no matter what sorts of problems or what sorts of differences they discover. I can tell you that if everyone had been nice to me when I was little, I probably wouldn't be writing this page. Well, maybe I would any way, even though I don't have a computer at home to see it. I can look at the page at school, and that's pretty cool.

I have a type of breathing problem called cystic fibrosis. It's hard for me to breathe when I run a lot, and I can't digest my food without a lot of pills called enzymes. See, this cystic fibrosis turns every day ordinary fluids from the body into a sort of gluey mess. That's why it's hard to breathe, and that's why my own enzymes don't work well. Now, don't think that I'm weird or anything because of this problem. Even though it takes up a lot of my time, I'm really an ordinary kid. I go to school and watch TV at night (while I'm doing my breathing therapy). I love to dance around my house and listen to pop music like Britney Spears, too. I want to be on TV when I grow up, since I'm a pretty good singer.

If you were to meet me, I think you'd like my personality. My mom calls it "feisty". I love hanging with my friends, playing Barbies with Mom, going to big family gatherings, and playing music. The hardest thing for me is having CF (duh!). I don't like feeling tired, and I don't like it when people tease me. I get very sad, sometimes, too, like when my pet died and when people I know have died. Recently, I had to move away from my friends. That made me very sad, too...if it's happened to you, you know how tough losing a good friend can be. The last thing I  hate is fighting. I don't like to hear my parents quarrel, and I don't like to fight with  my friends. I wish I were more popular at school, but I only think of that sometimes. 

Do you wonder how I cope with all of the problems from CF? Most of the time I laugh, and that helps a lot. Besides that, when I feel love from my family and friends, I feel like I can handle anything. I really do like being myself, being me. I can say whatever  I want to, as you know from reading this little story of mine. Hope that you enjoyed it! 
 

This exercises  my lungs...it's called an Incentive Spirometer

Want to know more about cystic fibrosis?

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Joan Fleitas, Ed.D., R.N.
Associate Professor of Nursing, Lehman College, CUNY 
Bronx, New York 10468

Last updated: November 14, 2004