Author Archives: Christie Patient

I have several roles here at BioNews, the parent company that publishes Pulmonary Fibrosis News and other rare disease websites. I started with this humble column and eventually joined the forums team as a co-moderator. My most recently acquired title is “columns lead,” in which I manage and mentor…

The holidays can be a time of joy and celebration, magic and wonder, traditions and new beginnings — but also grief and pain. These things can exist all at once, but it can be hard to admit that you’re feeling heavy when you’re expected to be light and…

The holidays are complicated. And getting in the holiday spirit with a chronic illness, in the dead of winter, in the middle of a pandemic, can be, well, challenging. If you are struggling to feel the magic this season, that’s OK. If you’re too exhausted or too sad to…

The pressure we put on ourselves to live full, “successful” lives can be debilitating. Transplant recipients can be burdened with extremely high expectations for what post-transplant life should look like. Organ transplantation is an incredible gift, but those expectations can cause a lot of emotional stress and guilt. Before I…

Growing up as an only child, I’ve spent my whole life hearing what one Washington Post writer calls “a slew of profoundly unflattering and occasionally contradictory stereotypes.” I’ve been told many times how lucky I am that I don’t have to share my parents’ affection with siblings. Or…

In a society that shuns openly speaking about death and dying, it’s hard to find words to grapple with the terror of the unknown and the threat of imminent grief. It can be even harder to find a space in which to utter them. When my mom, Holly,…

On Mother’s Day in 2019, I walked into the ICU on the ninth floor of University of California, San Francisco’s Parnassus campus for the last time. It had been a month since my mom, Holly, was discharged from the hospital there after having a bilateral lung transplant. Although I…

When doctors discuss the costs and benefits of getting a lung transplant, they often talk about the lifelong use of immunosuppressants. These medications can have a wide range of side effects. For example, most people experience at least a few of the many side effects of prednisone, a…

In March 2019, my mom, Holly, got a second chance at life. Her bilateral lung transplant was a gift of the highest order. It saved and prolonged her life when nothing else would. It gave her body back the power to enjoy living. It restored her health and independence.

As soon as my mom, Holly, was out of the hospital following her bilateral lung transplant, our family began efforts to protect her immunocompromised body. Before she even got the call about available donor lungs, the University of California, San Francisco lung transplant team had educated my family…