Dying to Live
This is an expression that I have thought of many times in my recently. It’s almost an oxymoron in sorts as it seems people are dying to live every day, but certain things are failing them. In my realm the big problem is Cystic Fibrosis (CF). The disease I was born with and that affects just about…no it affects every organ in my body not to function normally, especially my lungs. And for most or all of the people born with CF, about 40,000 people in the US (but I think that number is low), have issues with their lungs. This disease has claimed the life of so many people, most of them young, too young. I’m 44 years old and I’m considered “old” for having CF. Do you know how much I hate to hear that? Most people in their 40’s, without CF, would say they don’t feel old or they still have a lot of living to do. For people with CF to reach 40 is a huge milestone, which sucks! This day in age with all the technology and money floating around, CF should stand for Cure Found. Great strides have been made in the past ten years on CF, with new drugs and devices to help people cope longer, but kids and adults are still dying every day from this nasty disease.
If CF researchers had half of what is donated to fight breast cancer or aids or even MS, I bet this disease would be put away for good. Perhaps it would be like Polio, the disease that killed and crippled tens of thousands, but now there is a shot you get as a kid and boom, hardly no one gets it any more. Not to ever put down people that have these other diseases, trust me, my mother went through breast cancer and survived, so I know how hard it is. But everyone knows about breast cancer and they have made huge leaps to find a cure and better medicine. I’m just saying the money that pours in for research for some of these other diseases is scary, compared to what little attention CF gets.
The one thing I hate to hear or read is people committing suicide or even overdosing. We all say, ‘No way, I can’t believe it, why?’ when we hear of a celebrity dying of an OD, like Philip Seymour Hoffman or Cory Monteith from Glee or a possible ‘mistake’ from too much prescription drugs, like Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and the many others. Then there are the people that commit suicide and that just boggles my mind. Some may think, Celebrities have it all, money, fame and so on, but they are unhappy. My uncle Paul, whom I was very close to growing up and into my adulthood committed suicide. He wasn’t a celebrity and didn’t get national news, but it affected our whole family and his friends. To this day I still ask why did he do it. This brings me to my title of this blog, Dying to live. Most people with CF are dying to live. We struggle every day to breath and have a ‘good’ day, where we get to go out and have fun or even laugh. There’s a 14 year old boy who can’t go run around with his friends because he can’t breathe, there’s a 22 year old young lady who can’t plan a wedding because she’s in the hospital for the third time this year and it’s only February. There’s a 44 year old man that is using oxygen, listed on the transplant list typing this blog. We all have one thing in common, CF and we want to live!
This disease needs to be knocked out, put up on the shelf, checked off the list and flat out killed. The awareness of this disease needs to be spread around so others know what it is, what it does and how to help. We all have our issues in life, but there is always someone who is a little worse that could use a hand. Take a leap and help a huge population breath and live better, donate to the cure of CF.
Phil J Webb's Blog 