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? "

The few months that I grew the most with my Cystic Fibrosis also happened to be the hardest few months I have experienced yet. During my first year of college, I learned to overcome difficulties and deal with hardships both including and excluding my disease. I always knew that mental health was important, but it wasn't until I had personal experiences with mental health that I learned the true significance it could hold in a person's life. Becoming an out of state freshman meant that I was out of my parent's house and a whole state away from where my family resided. With this came a new sense of responsibility and independence I hadn't experienced. This meant no more daily reminders from my parents about doing my treatments, or them carrying extra medication with them in case I forgot mine. It meant no more home cooked meals, or daily encouragement to exercise in order to stay healthy. I had to learn a whole new routine attempting to balance making new friends at a new school, harder classes, more rigorous homework, new places to exercise, figuring out every meal, new chores, and a new medical routine. Balancing all of this proved to be more difficult than I anticipated, which began affecting my mental health negatively. I became extremely anxious to the point where it took a physical toll on me, eventually sending me to the ER because of an irregularity with my heart. After visiting with many cardiologists and CF doctors, I was diagnosed with a right bundle branch block in my heart and told that it may be connected to having lung disease. This along with other hardships I faced my freshman year caused me to decline in my mental health and began to increase my anxiety, especially medically. It was when I faced the hardship of losing a good friend due to mental health problems present, that I realized I needed to change how I was dealing with things. I began talking about my health, both mentally and physically. I began asking for help from my friends and family. The love and support I felt from everyone around me was overwhelming, and I began to improve my mental and physical health. My family and friends continued to reach out and build me up in any way possible. It was through all of this that I realized the true strength within me. I decided that CF was not something that could hold me down any longer, and that I would learn to balance my CF with the rest of my life. I learned that to succeed with my CF all I had to do was look at my inner strength and ask for help when needed. It is through this experience that I learned that it's okay to ask for help, and that I'm a stronger person for it. I overcame the anxiety that my CF caused me and learned that I am meant for more than my diagnosis.