Life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis was around 35 years.

PNAS: For decades, the standard of care for cystic fibrosis was a regimen of treatments addressing the symptoms. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease characterized by thick, sticky mucus in the lungs, among other symptoms.īarrett: After my diagnosis, every 18 months or so I was going into the hospital for what they called a CF exacerbation, where we would do a two-week stint in the hospital and do IV antibiotics, intensive chest physiotherapy, and you see all the specialists, dieticians, your doctors, every day-everything just to kind of get you back up to your baseline. At age 7, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, or CF. I ate everything in sight, and I was always hungry because my pancreas wasn't functioning correctly. I was skinny, malnourished, always had a cough. I’m Paul Gabrielsen.īarrett: So before I was diagnosed, I was always sick. PNAS: Welcome to a feature episode of Science Sessions, the podcast of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Change how you see the world through research and keep up with the latest academic thinking with Big Brains, part of the University of Chicago Podcast network.

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