My name is cystic fibrosis. I am a disease that changes how my hosts’ body makes mucus and sweat. She has a hard time breathing and she needs help unclogging her lungs that are filled with clods of mucus. She is constantly coughing and needs to carry around tissues to spit out any mucus that comes out.

Chloe is my host, she constantly carries around tissues and wakes up every morning bright and early to unclog her chest from the mucus that blocks her breathing path.

 

Many people do not understand her problem, they make fun of her issues and she has a hard time making friends. Not many people her age are familiar with this mutation, but  that is why I am here to explain what it is.

 

 

I am a disease that makes big chunks of mucus in the lungs, this makes it hard for Chloe to breathe. I am not doing this purposely but when I am not signaled to reproduce it is hard to stop this cycle. This can lead to bigger problems like blockage of the pancreas which will make it hard for Chloe to digest.

 

An important thing our body craves is sweat, sometimes Chloe sweats way too much of the salt which makes her low on Cholesterol.

 

When Chloe was younger, she was diagnosed with this disease, today most people who are diagnosed with cystic fibrosis are babies. More than 75% of children with cystic fibrosis get diagnosed by age 2, but many people aren’t aware of this until they get much older. Sometimes, before kids are born, the parents are still able to find out their fetus has this disease.

Everyone is born with a gene called CTFR, which creates protein. It controls how salt and water move in and out of our bodies, if you have cystic fibrosis this means your CTFR gene is broken. This happened to Chloe, because she inherited two bad copies of the gene, one from her mom and another from her dad.

 

If only Chloe’s mother had a problem with her CTFR gene she wouldn’t have me, CF (cystic fibrosis) but because both her parents have it she is naturally diagnosed with ME, but in other words Chloe could pass it on her to her children.

To treat Chloe’s disease, her parents help to tap her lungs so there wont be big clods of mucus blocking the path for her to breathe. There are many different techniques for this and patients may have to go see a physiotherapist to find a good way to clear their lungs.

There is still no cure for this but, with good treatment, appropriate medication and exercise, there is still hope.