Christy Fessler, a professor at Nazareth University in Rochester, NY, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) at the age of 2. Today at 39, she is in need of lung, kidney and liver transplants (began when she was 37). It\u2019s been quite a journey for Christy, as it is for any CF patient! I\u2019d like to share with you, in her words, her most recent and frightening experience as it relates to her CF. She wrote this during her first original hospitzaliation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On October 2, 2023, I drove myself to an appointment with my CF Clinic. I was really sick. They wanted me to go straight to the hospital, but were worried about me driving, so I was driven there. So far, these are very familiar experiences for us. Later that day, however, I apparently crashed. My brain wasn\u2019t getting oxygen. I was intubated, placed on a feeding tube, etc. In the following days, I wasn\u2019t getting better and seemed to be getting worse. I was told that I may not pull through, and if I did, I may not ever leave the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, I started to slowly get better. I started to wake up \u2013 scared because I couldn\u2019t talk, my hands were in huge mitts and I didn\u2019t know why. But I woke up and saw my brother beside me once, and though I didn\u2019t know why, it was hugely comforting. I started to wake more frequently and my Dad was here. My mitts came off. All my tubes were slowly removed. I started to see visitors from different parts of my life. I spent 22 days in the ICU. While I\u2019m still in the hospital, I have made incredible progress. I have gone from needing 3 people and a huge contraption to even get out of bed \u2026 my legs and arms could bear almost no weight \u2026 to today, I can stand up from my bed and walk independently, with a walker. I\u2019ve relearned how to swallow. My voice is still very weak because the intubation paralyzed part of my vocal cord. It\u2019s improving, just slowly. While I am so excited to get home, I\u2019m focusing on baby steps, every day, toward independence so that I can do as much as I can when I get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What has humbled me is just the outpouring of love I have received. I know now that multiple people who visited before I was really \u201cback\u201d played me some of my beloved music \u2013 Elton John, Queen, Bowie, etc. \u2013 in the hope that, even if we couldn\u2019t talk, they could at least try to bring that joy to me. I got a literal STACK of cards from my college students \u2013 some beautifully hand drawn, all touching. My kindergartens and 1st graders at church made me cards COVERED in glitter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, as we head into the Fall 2025 my transplant journey has taken me to Pittsburgh where I began living this past June in an apartment shared by my mother and my Aunt Pam. Each take shifts living with me weeks at a time. When I am not at UMPC for treatments, tests, etc I am looking at the positive of being with my family in a new city. When my body and mind are up for it, I am exploring Pittsburgh to keep my spirits up. As I have partnered with COTA for assistance with transplant-related expenses and now living in Pittsburgh as I await a transplant, this means I am currently tapping into the COTA funding. I\u2019ve had tons of people asking if there\u2019s anything they can do to help. If you want to help, donations of ANY amount to COTA in my honor will help, or please share the link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Children\u2019s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA also works with individuals of any age with a single-gene disorder such as Polycystic Kidney Disease, Cystic Fibrosis or Sickle Cell Disease. COTA is the nation\u2019s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy families. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA\u2019s services are free of charge and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christy Fessler, a professor at Nazareth University in Rochester, NY, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) at the age of 2. Today at 39, she is in need of lung, kidney and liver transplants (began when she was 37). It\u2019s been quite a journey for Christy, as it is for any CF patient! I\u2019d like to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n