Cystic Fibrosis Warriors
Meet
Marten Devlieger
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Interview coming very soon...
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Meet
Sarah-Lyn Copeland
My name is Sarah-Lyn Copeland and I was born with Cystic Fibrosis. When I was 2 days old, I had my first surgery to remove 6 inches of bowel. That’s was when my doctors at Sick Kids hospital discovered that I had CF.
Throughout my childhood, I was in and out of the hospital for 2-3 weeks at a time for IV antibiotics to treat my reoccurring lung infections. I had to do Physiotherapy twice a day to clear out the mucus from my lungs, as well as taking pancreatic enzymes whenever I eat in order to digest my food. When I was 7, I had a feeding tube placed in my stomach to help me gain and maintain weight. It would give me an extra 1500 calories every night. When I was 16, the infections in my lungs had damaged them to the point of no return and I was listed to have a double lung transplant. I was on oxygen 24/7 at this time. I waited 13 months for the call that saved my life, 2 weeks shy of my 18th birthday.
After my transplant, I still have CF, however my new lungs did not. I no longer have to do physio but I still have to take over 40 pills a day in order to stay healthy. Those include my anti rejection meds to lower my immune system so I do not go into rejection. I live a pretty normal life with those lungs though and for 5 years, they worked perfectly. My lung function went from 21% to 90%.
I was able to start working at an animal shelter now that I had this new life. Animals care is a passion of mine and I was so grateful to be able to help in any way that I could. Unfortunately, shortly after my 5 year anniversary, I caught a virus that lead to me getting pneumonia and later on going into rejection. I ended up going into the ICU, put on a ventilator and ECMO (a machine that takes the blood out of your body and oxygenates it before putting it back, a heart and lung machine). During this time, i was listed for another transplant and luckily only waited a week. I was in the hospital for a total 106 days, 50+ were in the ICU. Now a little more than a year later, life is back to normal for me and I am able to breath without difficulty.
Living with CF has taught me to value everyday and live life to the fullest. You never know how long you have on this earth.
If I were to give anyone with CF some advice, it would be to try to enjoy every day. There are some really tough days but try to look forward to the good ones.
If you wish to make an impact, there are many charities to donate to that do research on finding a cure. For CF, Cystic Fibrosis Canada raises money for finding a cure but they also raise money to pay for all of the CF medications we take and to support our specialty clinics.
People ask all the time how I stay so strong throughout everything I have gone through, and to me, it’s just life. I have always been dealing with health issues so it is nothing new for me. It’s just something I have to deal with. I say I like to “go with the flow” so to speak.
I wouldn’t change a thing in my life. Living with CF and having my transplants has brought so many people into my life as well as a big factor into making my family as close as we are.