Only 7 Like Me- A CF Warrior Story

My name is William. I’m 27 years old and from the Garden State, New Jersey. When I was born, the doctor’s realized something was wrong with my colon so, I went under the scope after being born 15 hours before for a surgery known as Meconium Ileus, which is when a baby has a small left side of the colon. I would spend the next three months in the hospital, undergoing numerous tests, until it was realized that I had cystic fibrosis after a sweat test when I was three months old. Almost all babies, according to Seattle’s Children Hospital, who undergo the surgery have CF and 1 in 5 CF patients have undergone the surgery.

While I’ve been relatively healthy for a person with CF, I’ve had my struggles, such as this year when my gallbladder and appendix went septic. I’m definitely one of the lucky ones.

What’s important to understand is, not everyone is like me. I’m an outlier. There are only seven other people in the world who have CF have my genetic mutation, which itself is a crazy statistic. There are children and adults, (but let’s focus on the kids for a second) who aren’t as lucky. They’ve spent their lives in and out of the hospital, hooked up to IV’s and oxygen tanks, and barely able to gain weight. They’re lucky if they’re able to see 10-15 years old. Often, those families can be burdened with hospital bills that are way too high for anyone to pay. While the CF Foundation has made tremendous strides increasing the life expectancy for people with CF that have benefited adults like Andy and myself, there are still families who suffer.

No parent should have to suffer and I can speak for any adult or caretaker when I say that no one should ever have to live with cystic fibrosis. We’ve made excellent strides in my lifetime with medicine and research, but we need to push further in eradicating this terrible disease from existence. We have to make sure that parents can take care of their children and adults with CF don’t live in poverty, giving all of their money to medical costs.

In my spare time, I like to read, play pick up basketball, and do stand up comedy.

Please help us raise money for Cystic Fibrosis until CF stands for Cure Found by donating today!