CF Happens

Today is my 34th birthday!!!! Not all women are proud to say their age or to say they like getting older. I am a rare breed in that sense. When you throw CF in the mix, getting older is always a blessing. When I was born the life expectancy was around 12 years old. It is now 37.5 years old. It is creeping up there as am I. I am thankful for every year that I have. I am actually looking forward to turning 40 but now I have to wait 6 years…haha.

Now let me explain what the life expectancy means to me. I personally have never thought of the life expectancy age as the end all or the age I will live to or even the age I hope to get to. The life expectancy age is a median age not a number to live by. Whenever I have passed up a life expectancy age, I wave good-bye to it and keep on pressing forward. I am not held by what some mathematical equation says. I know many CFers that are beyond the life expectancy age. It shouldn’t be the thing you focus on. Everyone’s CF is different therefore you can’t compare one to another. When I have gotten to the life expectancy age it has been raised. The life expectancy age is not a deciding factor on what things I can and will do. I plan for the future. I plan to see my bonus kids graduate high school and college, get married and have kids. My husband and I make plans on what we are going to do with our grandchildren…spoil them and send them home of course. I try my best to have a positive view on things. That is not to say that I don’t have my freak out “this sucks” moments because I do. I am Shannon, wife and bonus mom first and happen to have CF. CF falls in the mix but it is not what rules me even though it does take charge at times. I live my life to the fullest and don’t dwell on all the statistics. Why should I go by the books now, I never have. I live the life I was given and make the best of it.

I am thankful for the life I have with the people I love. Here’s to another year!!!!

Until next time…