Student
with cystic fibrosis learn from disease
By Kelly Puente
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
In many ways, Emily Haager is a typical Cal State Long Beach graduate student.
She stresses over exams, ponders her future and struggles to balance an often
overloaded time schedule. The difference between Haager and most students is
she must carefully schedule classes around her daily battle against a life-threatening
illness called cystic fibrosis.
Life with a serious illness is difficult, but Haager has learned to remain positive
in the face of adversity. She has learned not to take her life or her health
for granted, and couldn’t imagine things any other way.
“
I’m thankful for every day I have,” Haager said. “I
enjoy life.”
Diagnosed at 6 months old, Haager, now 22, has lived with cystic fibrosis her
entire life.
A genetically inherited disease with no cure, cystic fibrosis causes the lungs
to produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus that can lead to life-threatening lung
infections. It also affects the liver and digestive system. Approximately 30,000
children and adults are living with the disease in the United States, according
the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Web site. The median survival age for someone
with cystic fibrosis is in the mid 30s.
Although her illness requires daily, rigorous treatments, Haager does not let
the disease run her life.
“
I was raised with the idea that I can do whatever I want to succeed,” she
said. “I don’t have to be defined by my disease. There are a lot
of ways I can express myself.”
Recently, Haager was one of 30 students with cystic fibrosis to win a full academic
scholarship from Solvay Pharamaceuticals Inc.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals is part of the Creon Family Scholarship program, which
provides support for patients and families living with cystic fibrosis. Established
in 1993, the company has awarded nearly 300 scholarships, totaling over $1.6
million. The students are selected based on financial need, academic achievement
and their ability to serve
as a role model to others with cystic fibrosis.
Haager will receive up to $2,000 a year for two years of graduate study.
“
The application for the scholarship was really extensive, but totally
worth it,” Haager said.
After hearing about the scholarship through her doctors, Haager submitted a package
containing letters of recommendation, proof of medical disorder from her doctors
and a creative representation explaining what she has learned from living with
cystic fibrosis.
Haager expressed creative representation through an essay/poem where she said, “Cystic
fibrosis has made me the person I am today; without the disease shaping my life,
there would be no real me.”
“
It’s changed the way I look at things,” she said. “It’s
made me thankful and given me the ability to appreciate life.”
Haager said she has never thought of her disease as something that stops her.
“
Life is important, what you do is important,” she said. “I
don’t want to just sit around and do nothing. I can do everything with
just a little more effort.”
The Diamond Bar native is currently studying toward a master’s degree in
communicative disorders. She hopes to work with rehabilitation for elderly patients
who suffer from brain injuries and neurological disorders.
Through overcoming her obstacles Haager said she feels she developed a special
patience.
“I’ve had to wait in hospitals and waiting rooms my whole life,” she
said. “I understand the frustration, and I understand how life can be different.”
The hardest part about her disease, she said, is maintaining the balance between
managing her care and enjoying life.
Four times a day she uses a respirator to inhale antibiotic vapors. A friend
then vigorously pounds on her chest to release the mucus buildup in her lungs.
She takes special enzyme pills with every morsel of food she eats, and is often
in and out of the hospital.
But Haager said she is fortunate to have an amazing support group of friends
and family. Her friends help her with the hour-long breathing treatments.
“
But actually it’s great cause we get to spend more time together,” she”said,
laughing. “I have the best friends I could ever ask for. They don’t
dwell on things and I don’t get treated differently.”
Haager is usually hospitalized for several weeks out of the year, and said her
friends are there every day until she goes to sleep.
“
Emily has been through so much, but she is one of the most upbeat people you
will ever meet,” said Kim Graham, her roommate and best friend. “If
I could describe her in one word, it would be ‘joy’; she is an amazingly
joyful person.”
Haager credits her positive attitude to her parents, who “didn’t
freak out.”
“
My parents were a blessing,” she said. “They taught me how to take
care of myself. I couldn’t imagine dealing without them.”
This year Haager has not been hospitalized once. She lives her life as a typical
CSULB student with a few more things on her list. She said she does not feel
she is missing out on the partying lifestyle lived by many students.
“
I never wanted to live that life anyway,” she said.
Haager has taken a life-threatening disease and used it to shape her amazing
outlook.
“
It’s a huge part of my life,” she said. “It’s a part
of who I am. And believe it or not, I wouldn’t change a thing, because
I know there is a purpose for it and I know that God will take care of me.”
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