Meet the 2024 Scholars

"Describe a defining moment in your journey with CF that sparked personal growth or resilience. How did this experience affect you and what did you learn from this moment?"

Theater was my entire life in high school. This is where all my favorite people were and I spent a lot of energy cultivating our community. I was the stage manager and my job required a lot of heavy lifting, running around and being able to project enough vocally to address our huge cast and crew. As a freshman, I was not very athletic, but after Covid I became determined to fix my physical situation, especially because I contracted pseudomonas and was drastically set back by it. I joined a Strength and Conditioning class my junior year at school which was so invigorating and everyone in the class was very encouraging. I felt invincible and it really helped in theater as people were able to rely on me more. My position as stage manager put me in a place mentally where I felt the need for people to rely on me and not vice versa, especially when I started training my successor. Our dynamic switched during the last show of my senior year - I would do all the small things, like opening rooms and moving set pieces while the new SM handled the bigger things. During one of our shows I ran up the many flights of stairs to unlock our spotlight booth. As I sprinted back down the hall I had to stop suddenly as I felt my chest and throat closing. I've had asthma attacks before but I hadn't had one in a couple years. I sat down with my backpack to find my rescue inhaler but, of course, the one time I needed it, it wasn't there. I called my mom but I was still alone for a while; for once there was nobody in the hallway. I was getting lightheaded and texted my friend, the current stage manager. All I could text was "help I can't breathe." Fletcher immediately came to find me and stayed with me until my mom arrived. Only then did I start crying, I hated feeling that vulnerable. I shared a lot of personal and emotional things before this but I got to choose then. I hated feeling physically weak. Fletcher later told me that he was really scared for me, he had never seen me like that and he said that he honestly didn't think that it was possible. I went to the hospital that night and made a full recovery but the next rehearsal was rough. My friends knew I had Cystic Fibrosis but they really only knew surface level information. Having to explain everything that I deal with, the possibility of hospitalization, the fear, the digestive and mental tolls were really strange to talk about. I got to see how unbelievably lucky I am to have the friends I do. They still coddle me sometimes, making sure I have my inhaler when snowboarding, and Fletcher gets really worried when I wheeze. I am working to get better again but I know sometimes I have to rely on others.