Meet the 2021 Scholars

"Living through a global pandemic with a chronic illness, what is one piece of inspirational advice that you would give to other students with CF who are in the same or similar position?"

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, I was worried just like the rest of the world. As a CF patient, I was even more nervous about the implications of contracting coronavirus. Having seen what a common cold did to my health, I was terrified of what would happen if I caught COVID. Through the course of the pandemic, I have come to understand, this is what we’ve trained for our entire lives. To protect our own health, CF patients have always practiced infection control measures. We stay away from sick people in public. We wash our hands often. Many of us are used to wearing masks during cold and flu season. During this pandemic, many of us were able to continue living our lives. While the rest of the world had to learn new habits, we just had to keep up with our stringent infection control measures. Most of us have not had to adjust too drastically to the new world. It’s the rest of the world that has had to rise to our level of infection control. I personally have used my experience to help some of my less practiced friends. The Covid-19 pandemic has been tragic and terrifying, especially to those of us living with chronic illness. However, I firmly believe that we as a community are equipped to handle this. Keep up with infection control procedures, and if you can, get vaccinated. We will get through this together.