The Fighters Chronicles - The Salty Cysters Pt 2

My story

My name is Tiffany, but everyone calls me Tiff. I am 27 years young born and raised in California. You might recognize me from my youtube channel LUNGS4TIFF and my campaign 2 years ago to meet my inspiration Taylor Swift! With everyone’s help I got to meet the queen herself and yes she is even more amazing in person! I was diagnosed with CF at birth when my parents were told I most likely wouldn’t make it to see my 18th birthday. Thankfully with research and development of new drugs and therapies, I have been able to exceed that daunting expectancy. Growing up with CF my family and friends never treated me any different. I lived a very “normal” life then and I still do to this day. I was very active in soccer, dance, and gymnastics and I was in the water all the time. I’ve always thought of CF as a blessing in disguise because without it I wouldn’t be who I am today. I am very active in the CF community by participating in the great strides walk with my team Tiffany’s Purple Fighters. I have never let CF bring me down and in 2016 I graduated from college with a BS in Health Science. 

Since I was born I have had intestinal/ stomach surgeries, a pulmonary embolization, too many lung infections to count, and a port placement. A few years ago I was just a normal girl going to college and having fun with friends when my health took a turn at 21 years old when my lung function dropped from 50% to 22% all of the sudden. After this I bounced back but never was the same. My CF slowly progressed and I started getting lung infections every 3-6 months needing multiple IV meds. In 2013 my lung function was not going up from 30% and my CF doctor uttered the words no one wants to hear, “you need to be evaluated for transplant”.  On March 12th, 2014 I was listed at Stanford on their double lung transplant list.

I waited 973 days on the transplant list before I got that life changing call that would change my life forever. On November 30th, 2016 I underwent a double lung transplant where they removed my CF lungs and replaced them with new lungs I received from my selfless donor. I spent over 1 month in the hospital recovering from surgery. It was definitely one of my toughest times but has led to so many positive changes and such a bright future ahead. It has been 2 months since my double lung transplant and my current lung function is almost triple what it was prior to getting my transplant in November. One of my goals in life is to further help people like myself and others battling chronic illnesses. With Salty Cysters, I hope that we are able to help raise awareness and donations towards a cure for CF! I cannot wait for the day that we can say CF has a CURE!!