Allow me to introduce myself! I am Rojeana Auriel Hall (I prefer to be called Auriel), I am a 19 year old college sophomore! I enjoy school, family and friends and I am a social butterfly. However, I have an annoying “friend” that loves to follow me around and run my life. That friend is called Cystic Fibrosis (CF). CF is a genetic disease that causes the body to overproduce thick and sticky mucus that affects the lungs, pancreas and digestive track. It causes poor growth, persistent coughing, lung infections, and poor digestion and so on.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a present cure for it, but if the lungs get worse then a lung transplant is available. The excessive mucus in the lungs makes it harder to breath, and when it’s harder to breathe it is difficult to walk, talk or even eat (try eating when you’re short of breath- that shit is hard). CF doesn’t allow me to break down food and use its nutrients, so I have to relay on pills (enzymes) to do it for me.
I take the 4 enzymes with every meal and snack! To reduce the amount of mucus in my lungs I have to do multiple aerosols and strap on a jacket or “vest” that shakes my lungs so it is easier to cough up the mucus. Later I’ll explain my daily regime.
I think I was diagnosed at 7 months old and that was because I stopped gaining weight and had frequent lung infections. The doctors decided to test me for CF because my older sister, Roni, was diagnosed with CF already. I actually have two older sisters and a younger brother, Ashley, Angel (Roni) and Roman.
Ashley is the eldest and is working on getting her Doctorates degree in something up in Tallahassee, Roni is working on her Bachelors’ in Business Administration at AIU, and Roman is a sophomore in high school. Roni and Roman both have CF. According to science it is odd to have 3 CFers in one family, usually it is 1 out of 4 who would have CF. Oh well, that is the hand we got dealt and we will play with it.
I admit, it is easier to be the 2nd child born with CF because I watched what Roni went through and she always comforts me when I have CF complications.