My name is Sydney, but most people call me Syd. I'm an average 16-year-old girl; however, if you were to meet me on the street you might think I'm older by the way I talk, and by my presence. You see, I had to grow up much faster than most kids had to. Yes, I'm just like any other teenager. I have friends, go out, and enjoy being lazy all day; but I had to figure out who advocate for myself starting at a very young age due to my little friend (not really), Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic Fibrosis (or CF for short) is a genetic lung and pancreatic illness that affects more than 30,000 people in the United States. We are a small percentage of people yet, I always find that my fellow 'Cysters and Fibros' are the toughest and bravest out there. We go through countless procedures to stay on top of our health annually, take endless medications daily, and occasionally go on 14+ days of IV antibiotics; I currently am mid-way through a dose of IV treatments. On top of all that, a lot of us are waiting on a long list for a new pair of lungs because ours don't work at all anymore. We do all these things to keep out all the bacteria that progressively build up in our lungs, and can lead to some seriously nasty infections. But heres the catch, most CF patients don't look sick (hence the name invisible illness). Seriously though, I look just as healthy as every other girl you see. However, if you hear my cough... I'm not going to lie here, depending on the day I could sound like I just have a cold, and other days it sounds like my lungs are about to explode. But personally that doesn't affect my physical appearance since I'm very lucky and don't need an oxygen tank.
On the other hand, what does affect a CFer's physical appearance is keeping on weight. I personally have struggled with my weight since I was a baby. My pancreas doesn't properly function, so I take Creon enzymes to digest food every time I eat. I've just never been able to keep on weight, no matter how many slices of pizza I consume. I only weighed about 90lbs my freshman year of high school. When I was younger, I had a feeding tube called a mickey button. We used it to pump 600 calorie weight supplements through, thats right 600 calories. And even with that I still only weighed around 40 pounds. The mickey button was all fun and games until my (at the time 11 year old brother) convinced 9 year old me that would be a smart idea to belly flop into the ocean in the Bahamas. That was the last we ever saw of my dear friend, the mickey button. From there it was decided that I would start drinking the supplements because my body still couldn't keep on weight. I drank the protein shakes until this past spring, because I finally proved to be keeping on the pounds; and in fact realized that the shakes were doing me more harm than good. (Horrendous stomach aches, loss of appetite, ect.) For some having protein shakes is a neccesity, but I don't need them any longer.
Aside from having CF, I'm also a regular teenager with high aspirations in life and I am a hard worker. I get good grades in all my classes and am very involved with everything at my school. I was class president last year, and am running again this year. I have been asked to leadership conferences through my school, as well as being a leader figure in my school's "Friends of Rachel" club. I love helping out in my community and making sure I'm always involved. In the winter I ski race with my school, so i'm at the mountain training after school all week, and then Saturdays and Sundays I'm an instructor at Gore Mountain. I also help direct the elementary school musicals with my friends, and am apart of the high school productions myself. In the past I've been in shows like Legally Blonde, Cinderella, Shrek; just to mention a few. I'm an extremely busy person all the time and its hard to keep up with all my meds and such, however I manage to do it quite well and am proud of where I am as a person today. To keep up with more of my daily life, you can find me on Instagram; @sydneyreichart.
