I’ve run conference calls where I’m the only one speaking to a group of competing vendors, who stay quiet in a game of business poker.  It’s feels uncomfortable to speak and share project information with no one else speaking at all.  Did they hear me?  Was I clear?  Do they think I’m . . . . I just move forward and quiet the little voice in my head.  I’m doing that now.

This blog feels a little like those calls.

And, as no one is speaking back at this point, I can pretty much say . . . anything.  Great.  How’s this:

I have cystic fibrosis.  I’m in my late 40s, have a wife and daughter and I am the luckiest person alive.

I have survived a genetic disease that was supposed to kill me years ago.

My story is not unique.  There are others just like me.

However, for each of us who has survived cystic fibrosis, there are others who have died and made us (mainly me) look more heroic than we really are (than I really am).  They are the heroes, the children lost to cf and the parents who witnessed their suffering. I don’t use the word hero by accident.

Can you imagine being 10 years old and spending your short life running out of breath every day?

That’s why I say I am the luckiest person alive – it’s by luck that I’m here – with a catch. Much of the luck happened to me; but some of it I made.

So, I have three goals for this blog:

1. Find the humor in this horrible disease. (Is it possible? We’ll see. Thank you to the Unknown Comic, who I parody here.)
2. Share the lessons I’ve learned (the ones that haven’t killed me)
3. Share the daily challenges of having cf.

Thank you for reading.  I know you have other choices and ways to fill your time.