By Larissa Marocco – Cyststic Fibrosis Foundation Website
“Now that I’m in my 40s and post-lung transplant, I’m beginning to embrace the realities of aging with cystic fibrosis. Despite the gray hairs and deepening wrinkles, I know that I am lucky to be looking forward to mammograms and menopause.”
The year I turned 40, I celebrated for a week with my dearest friends and family and tried to feel grateful. The life expectancy of a person with cystic fibrosis was just 10 years at the time I was born, and here I was, ready to greet a fifth decade! I should have been triumphant, but I didn’t feel like rejoicing. My lung function had been in a steady nosedive for months, and I had just started using supplemental oxygen. Not only could I hardly keep up with my active 9-year-old twins, but I also spent more and more time in the hospital away from them. Two months after that milestone birthday, I was listed for a double-lung transplant. I tried to appreciate my life for what it was, but the daily struggle to stay alive overwhelmed all else.
