Peering at the article on the computer screen I felt a familiar rush of tears. As a health visitor, I knew it was a priority to remain on top of medical research but this latest news about drug treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF) sufferers hit a nerve.
It was June 2023 and I had just finished reading a feature about how a leading combination drug was now helping ease lung damage for those living with advanced CF. Average life expectancy for people with CF used to be around 30 to 40 years, but with new drug breakthroughs like this, it may have improved to 70.
It was, of course, wonderful news and would change the life of millions of sufferers worldwide. But not for my one-year-old son Oliver, who was diagnosed with CF in June 2022 when he was just three weeks old.
I’ll never forget the moment my husband Harvey and I found out. Oliver had been given all the usual blood tests when he was five days old and the midwife told us that if something was wrong we’d be contacted. Harvey and I forgot all about it, lost in our little newborn bubble, but then I received a voicemail on 1 June from Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, asking me to bring Oliver in to discuss his blood tests.
By the time Harvey and I saw the consultant I had worked myself up into such a state that I was sure they were going to tell me our son was going to die. Yet I was thoroughly unprepared for the news they did have.
‘Oliver has cystic fibrosis,’ the consultant explained.
この記事は WOMAN'S OWN の August 07, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は WOMAN'S OWN の August 07, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
ANITA NAIK A PROBLEM SHARED
Mum-of-two Anita Naik has been an agony aunt for 32 years
ON SAFARI IN SOUTH AFRICA
Add the wilds of Kruger National Park to your bucket list, says Amanda James
'LET'S RAISE SOME SERIOUS CASH!'
The Radio 2 DJ is among the hosts of Children In Need…
THREE WOMEN ONE DRESS
Gemma Stevens, 34, needed a wedding dress that had stood the test of time
HOW TO HAVE A SILENT NIGHT
Trouble nodding off? Waking in the early hours? Our experts can help
MIND OF MY OWN
The Woman's Own columnist has her say on I'm a Celeb, work attire and young drivers
I THOUGHT HE'D COME TO KILL ME
For Sally Meeson, 45, the end of a relationship was the beginning of a nightmare
Loose Women IN CRISIS
With unhappy viewers and panel fall-outs, are the key characters about to be axed?
MAGNIFICENT MAURITIUS
Pe This istand in the ut 7% Indian Ocean feels Sa: like paradise, says Charlotte Richards
I HATE BEING A MUM
One woman, 55, reveals why she resents all of the sacrifices she made to be a mother
