Meet the 2019 Scholars

"Choose one inspirational quote or motto that has helped you throughout your journey with cystic fibrosis. How do you live by your quote or motto and how has it motivated you to accomplish your goals?"

My senior year of college, I listened to Guest Speaker Kyle Maynard, who was born with congenital amputation and the first quadruple amputee to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro without prosthetics. He stated that he lives by the motto, “Not dead, can’t quit”, originally from U.S. Marine Mack Machowicz. This quote struck a chord with me that I had not embodied before. I am a fighter, I don’t just have cf, I fight cf each and every day with each breath, PFT score, and PICC line. I wake every morning with a sense of pride in what I do to care for myself, and quitting isn’t an option. The year I heard Kyle speak, I climbed the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu with my dad. I hiked four days straight up very tall passes reaching 14,000 feet, taking countless steps. There were times I cried, and moments I felt like I couldn’t keep going because I was slower than the group or needed my inhaler and a break. The second day of this trek was by far the hardest, but then I remembered “Not dead, can’t quit”. I was so tired and out of breath, but I counted out 50 steps at a time, repeating “Not dead, can’t quit”, and then took a quick break. This lasted thirty miles. I didn’t quit, and the feeling of accomplishment I had at the end of that day and the end of the trek is the greatest emotion I have ever experienced.