Life with cystic fibrosis; school daze revisited
Cheryl Corcoran of Bridgewater is one of more than 4,300 Canadians who live with cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder that occurs when a child inherits two abnormal genes, one from each parent.
CF affects the digestive system and lung function, and the degree of severity differs from person to person. When Cheryl was born, weighing just 4 lbs. 11 oz, she spent a long time in ICU. Her family doctor and pediatrician didn’t recognize and report any symptoms of CF, but a family friend did.
“The friend was a doctor. When I was about six months old, he just happened to kiss me on the forehead and noticed it was unusually salty, one of the main factors for a CF diagnosis. He suggested my parents get me tested, which they did. Test results confirmed I had CF,” said Cheryl.
There is no cure for CF. The prognosis is worrisome, as half the Canadians who died due to CF in the past five years were under the age of 37. Cheryl, 51, says she continues to enjoy life to the fullest.
“I was very healthy as a child. Even at a young age I took the treatments seriously. I followed the regimens prescribed to me, including taking aerosols and going to physiotherapy,” she said.
Cheryl said the disease didn’t hinder her from doing anything she wanted to, as a child or growing up. She has never been interested in sports but was able to keep up with classmates in gym class.
At 17, she was diagnosed with Cf-related type-1 diabetes, and had to take insulin four times a day.
CF didn’t prevent Cheryl from attending university and community college, and she has worked full-time since graduating.
She is currently a recruitment advisor with Nova Scotia Health.
Cheryl said she had only been hospitalized a couple times up to age 45. However, soon afterwards she contracted pneumonia on a regular basis and was hospitalized for 10 weeks in total over a three-year span. During the past four years her health has improved thanks to a medication called Trikafta.
“The medication has been life-changing,” enthused Cheryl. “When I came out of the hospital in 2020, my lung function was only 31 per cent. Since then, my lung function has almost doubled and my dependance on insulin has been reduced. I feel like I can breathe, and I’m even exercising now.”
On Sunday, May 26, across the country, Cystic Fibrosis Canada is hosting its 20th annual fundraiser walk. There is no organized walk in Lunenburg County, so Cheryl and husband Keith, a friend of mine and fellow print journalist, plan to walk eight kilometres on their own, along a local trail.
The couple has raised more than $100,000 for CF research during the past two decades.
Here’s what I’m thinking: if you are interested in sponsoring Cheryl’s walk, please check out https://walk-cysticfibrosiscanada.crowdchange. ca/page/cherylschargers
SCHOOL DAZE
My May 8 column included a segment on how many American college students couldn’t provide correct answers to a range of ridiculously simple questions, such as how many years in a decade.
I’ve since learned an academic research organization, Degree Choices, ranked 888 regional, liberal arts and national American universities offering bachelor’s degrees, and has at least 1,500 students enrolled.
Among the schools at the bottom of the ranking list was a university located in a western state. The school, which shall remain nameless to avoid piling on the shame, has a student body of nearly 10,000.
Degree Choices reports 71 per cent of the university’s students received financial aid, yet the graduation rate was determined to be an abysmal 19.5 per cent, the lowest of all schools ranked.
A federal regulator alleges another low-ranked college, also in a western state, misrepresented its programs and classes, made a practice of admitting students who had not graduated from high school and included in its enrollment numbers students who had never even attended class.
Regarding grad rates, the top two schools last year were Princeton University, with a graduation rate of 98.4 per cent, followed closely by fellow Ivy Leaguer, Harvard University, at 98.1 per cent.
The average graduation rate for four-year American universities and colleges is 66.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, Atlantic Canada figured favourably in Maclean’s magazine 2024 university rankings.
The top three universities in the Comprehensive Schools category, which are deemed to have a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs, are Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria and University of Waterloo.
I’m particularly proud of Simon Fraser University’s stellar academic credentials. When I resided in Vancouver, I was a member of the advisory board for Simon Fraser’s urban studies program.
Also, two members of our family recently earned SFU degrees in education and criminology.
Newfoundland’s Memorial University was positioned at number seven, while the University of New Brunswick followed in eighth place.
In the Primarily Undergraduate Universities category, Mount Allison topped the Canadian list. St. Mary’s placed third, followed by Acadia (number 5), St. Francis Xavier (9), University of Prince Edward Island (10), Moncton (12), Mount Saint Vincent (15) and Cape Breton (20).
According to Maclean’s, universities in this category are largely focused on undergraduate education, with relatively fewer graduate programs and graduate students.
In the Medical/doctoral Universities category, Dalhousie placed seventh. Universities in this category offer medical schools, as well as a wide range of PHD programs.