Christie Patient is a life-long explorer of the Wild West. She now resides in the Hawaiian Islands with her husband, Jonny and their two four-legged friends. Christie is a full-time freelancer, nature lover, and business owner. She took a break from work in 2019 to care for her mother, Holly before and after her double-lung transplant. Christie’s column documents the experience of her mother’s IPF progression, months-long hospitalization at UC San Francisco, and life-saving transplant. She hopes that her family’s transplant story can provide a unique perspective for other IPF patients and family members.
In January 2018, I lost my cousin to lung cancer. It was at stage 4 by the time he was diagnosed, and his decline was rapid and unexpected. One day, he was fine, and the next, he was gone. I had never lost someone so close to me, and it…
Each person’s experience of having a sick parent is different. For me, it was relatively easy until my mom’s condition became a crisis. From the start, I refused to research any terms that I’d overheard. I didn’t want to know what Dr. Google had to say about “interstitial lung…
I named my column “Courage to Care” because I wanted to convey that it takes a lot of guts to be a caregiver. The moment I decided to take responsibility for protecting my mother, I became a courage-making machine. I have mustered courage all day, every day, to face…
It started with a cough that just wouldn’t go away. Many of you probably know what that cough feels like. I don’t. I do, however, know what it feels like to learn that harsh, persistent cough isn’t just allergies or a lingering cold. I know what it feels like to…
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