Cindy R.'s Essay

I don’t know why doctors tell their ill or disabled patients that they will be able to lead a “normal life.” It isn’t true; it’s impossible to live a “normal life” when you have a disease like Cystic Fibrosis.

My life might look “normal” to an outside observer. I’m a college student, a writer, a dancer. I study and stress about exams and projects and grades like everyone else. I’m getting married this summer.

But the “normality” ends there. My life involves choices, struggles, and consequences that the average college student never has to deal with. Unlike most students, I deal with the fact of my own mortality on a daily basis.

And yet, living with Cystic Fibrosis has taught me that none of that matters, because the point is not to lead a “normal” life – it is to lead a life that is rich in friends and love and experiences, a life that is filled with gratitude and happiness.

It is so easy to become bogged down in self-pity: There have been plenty of nights when I have indulged in bitterness as I woke up coughing in the early hours of the morning.

But in a way, all of the things that limit me are also the things that make my life so beautiful. If I had no pain, I would not be able to appreciate the days when I can dance for three hours without losing my breath.

And that makes everything worth it.