Cystic Fibrosis Never Give Up

Cystic Fibrosis

What do the following four individuals have in common : Twenty-five (25) year old MTV personality Frankie Jo Abernathy; Forty-one (41) year old Canadian Ironman triathlete Lisa Bentley; Sixteen (16) year old Gunnar Esiason son of former National Football League quarterback Boomer Esiason; and twenty-three (23) year old British professional wrestler Andrew Simmons. Each individual has Cystic Fibrosis.

What is cystic fibrosis? Cystic Fibrosis is a very serious medical disorder that greatly shortens the life span of people with the disease. In this short piece we will discuss the following; the definition of cystic fibrosis, symptoms of cystic fibrosis, treatment of cystic fibrosis, list of notable people with cystic fibrosis, and a short list of Internet sites that are informative about cystic fibrosis.

Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited, genetic, autosomal recessive disease that can lead to early childhood death, lung disease, pancreas disorders, intestinal complications, liver disease, bile and biliary disease, sinus disease, and sweat gland disorders. It is a complicated disease. This is a serious disease. The majority of children afflicted with this disease died before they reach the age of thirty.

Cystic Fibrosis patients produce mucous that is thick and tenacious. The thick, sticky, and tenacious mucus and secretions; plug up the air passages in the lungs leading to frequent lung infections; obstruct the ducts and passages in the pancreas which can lead to reduced pancreas enzymes needed for digestion; cause intestinal blockage (meconium ileus) in new born infants; partial or complete blockage in the liver's bile ducts that can lead to biliary cirrhosis; block or partially block sinuses passages that can lead to frequent bouts of sinus infections. The sweat glands have their own unique problems: the sweat glands can not reabsorb salt. The inability to reabsorb salt can lead to heat intolerance syndromes and marked dehydration.

The symptoms of cystic fibrosis are very important. This is how a parent can recognize the need to immediately take their child to the physician. Shortly after the child is born the infant can suffer from the syndrome of meconium ileus presenting with abdominal distension from gas, no passage of stool, and vomiting. If your child should develop intense coughing with a lot of phlegm (mucous) production that is thick and sticky and have frequent chest/lung infections you ask the physician if it is possible that your child has cystic fibrosis. If the perspiration (sweat) of your child is abnormally salty to taste this should be evaluated by your physician. A young child, an adolescent, a teenager with frequent complaints of stomach pain, foul smelling stools, abdominal gas discomfort are possible signs/symptoms of cystic fibrosis. If you should notice poor weight gain and poor growth despite adequate diet for the child one should be concerned about cystic fibrosis. In the older child, the teenager, and the young adult who develop frequent bouts of of bronchitis and pneumonia should be evaluated for cystic fibrosis. Complaints of frequent sinus pain, sinus infections and copious sinus production mucus production could be signs of cystic fibrosis.

Treatment of cystic fibrosis should be tempered with the knowledge that there is no cure at this time. The treatment plan is to treat symptoms and to minimize the complications of cystic fibrosis. The main goals are to keep the patient well hydrated, prevent infections of the lungs and sinuses, reduce the thick, sticky, and tenacious mucous in the lung's airways, maintain good airflow, make sure the patient gets excellent nutrition, keep the patient's bowel movements regular. The following treatments are to accomplish the above objectives. Antibiotics for lung and sinus infections, mucus-thinning drugs for thick mucus, oxygen, bronchodilators, stool softener, enemas, chest physical therapy, exercise, pancreatic enzymes, excellent nutrition structures and followed by a dietitian, inhaled corticoid steroids, anti-inflammatory medications, gene therapy, and transplantation.

This paragraph is very important. Thirty years ago cystic fibrosis was treated as a pediatric disease. Very few children made it to adulthood. Today, 2009, physicians that treat adults (Internists) must know the disease quite well because many children make it to adulthood and we are discovering many individuals that can survive into their thirties (30s), forties (40s), and even into their fifties (50s). What follows is a short list of courageous cystic fibrosis patients that have become notable people: (1) Frankie Jo Abernathy, December 21, 1981 to June 9, 2007, was a television personality on MTV's "The Real World San Diego". Despite being diagnosed at the age of three with cystic fibrosis Frankie did her best to live a full and exciting life. She died from her life long illness at age twenty-five (25). (2) Lisa Bentley, born November 28, 1968, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in her twenties (20). She is a Canadian super athlete( http://www.cysticfibrosis.ca/page.asp?id=237). She is reported to rank as one of the most successful triathletes of all time. (3) Gunnar Esiason, born 1991, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in 1993 at the age of 2. His father is the great, retired, National Football League quarterback Boomer Esiason. Gunnar's father started the "Boomer Esiason Foundation Fighting Cystic Fibrosis" in 1993. Gunnar is now 16 plus years old and reported to be the quarterback of his high school football team. (4) Andrew Simmons born May 21, 1984 is a British professional wrestler. He is reported to have cystic fibrosis. He is 23 plus years old. despite his illness he continues to wrestle professionally and is successful.

There are several excellent websites with information about cystic fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: http://www.cff.org. Wikipedia-Cystic Fibrosis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis . Mayo Clinic: http://mayoclinic.com/health/cystic_fibrosis/DS00287/DSECTION=2. Wikipedia-Notable People with Cystic Fibrosis: http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/List_of_notable_people_with-cystic_fibrosis. Gunnar Esiason: http://www.esiason.org . The National Institute of Health and National Library of Medicine: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cysticfibrosis.html . Site for children (with parental guidance): http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/heart/cystic_fibrosis.html.

In this short piece we have briefly covered: (1) The definition of cystic fibrosis. (2) Symptoms of cystic fibrosis. (3) Treatment of cystic fibrosis. (4) List of notable people with cystic fibrosis. (5) A short list of Internet sites about cystic fibrosis. Future pieces will feature living with cystic fibrosis caring for someone with cystic, and the genetics of cystic fibrosis and many other facets of cystic fibrosis.

Always guide your medical therapy upon the consultation and advice of your physician.

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"All infants, children, teenagers, and adults with Cystic Fibrosis are Heroes; their care givers are Angels. " ( A quote of Dr. James Benjamin, Jr., M.D.) One such hero found in today's search for heroes is Hanna Pelican. As of 2008 Hanna was 15 years old in high school in Colorado. In addition to fighting this disease CF Hanna has become an angel. She raises funds for Cystic Fibrosis Research. Please review the following two links.