Welcome World!

Welcome world, you have entered the headspace of chronic fear.

 That hyper-vigilance you feel every time you touch a doorknob; you pass someone that coughs or you perceive a slight risk of contamination from an unknown person that may or may not be carrying a potentially life-threatening virus, is a peek into the lives of the CF community EVERY DAY.

Keep ever present the reality that you, as a someone granted access to the “low risk population” have a high probability to not even be personally touched by this virus. The reality is that the fear and anxiety that seems so all consuming right now will subside, and this will become a distant memory to many of you, that is potentially even laughable as toilet paper and sanitizer are stocked in houses for the next 20 years.

To be honest, we, as the CF community are scared, but we are also grateful. Grateful that people are suddenly paying attention to the fear that surrounds illness, watching people cough in their elbows and sanitize is a welcome relief from what we often observe in the general public. We, of course hope for the impossible, that this level of caution will become habit and the world has the potential to become a little less scary to the 70,000 people fighting CF and their families.

Please remember this next year.  Journal this feeling you hold right now, the utter lack of control you have over your surroundings. The feeling that you need to self-isolate in order to protect yourself, missing work and avoiding friends. I beg of you to keep this present always, this type of proactive hygiene can save the lives of people living with CF and many other chronic diseases.