In May, my mom, Holly, told me about a memoir she’d just finished reading by Amy Silverstein, a writer who had died of cancer the previous day. Silverstein attributed her impending death to a 35-year reliance on transplant-related medications following a heart transplant at age 25 and…
When friends guide the way through the dark days of transplant
Sept. 12 is always an exciting day in our house. It’s the birthday of my wife, Susan, for one thing. And it’s also our wedding anniversary. While I won’t disclose Susan’s age for my safety, I can share that it’s our 13th anniversary. For more than half of our married life,…
At the beginning of this year, I was told to start pulmonary rehabilitation to help with my pulmonary fibrosis (PF). I was prescribed 12 sessions as an outpatient, which would take six weeks (two sessions a week) out of my life. I kept putting it off, always making…
The first patients have been dosed in the Phase 2 REVERTIPF trial testing Tvardi Therapeutics’ investigational therapy TTI-101 in people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). TTI-101 is an oral small molecule inhibitor of STAT3, a protein implicated in pulmonary fibrosis (PF), as well as certain types of cancer. The…
Scientists have developed a way to use engineered specialized stem cells to regenerate healthy airway tissues, offering a potential avenue for treating chronic lung diseases like pulmonary fibrosis (PF). In a pair of proof-of-concept preclinical studies published in Cell Stem Cell, scientists described how they engineered lung stem…
Living with a chronic illness is a lot of work. Sometimes I liken it to a full-time job because it requires so much daily effort. Medication administration, doctor appointments, and symptom tracking are just a few responsibilities associated with disease management. Prior to my diagnosis of…
When I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in January 2017, I wasn’t familiar with the disease, so I set out to learn everything I could about it. I wanted to understand each test I would undergo and each medication I was taking. After receiving the gift…
Supporters are gearing up to mark Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, set aside every September, to call attention to the rare lung disease that affects more than 250,000 individuals in the U.S. and 400,000 in Europe. For its part, the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF), with its campaign theme “Embrace Your…
What an interesting month August has been. Regular readers of my column may recall that the month started with a discussion of a new comorbidity in my post-transplant world. In subsequent columns, I wrote about how to explain your chronic illness, responding when opportunity knocks, and…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new generic version of Esbriet (pirfenidone) for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), according to an announcement by Lupin, the global pharmaceutical company that will market the medication. As with the brand name medicine, Lupin‘s generic will be available…
