‘I’m living proof all the stories about drug Trikafta are true’
INSPIRATIONAL Nicole Adams has written for the Daily Express to describe the rollercoaster of emotions she felt during six weeks in hospital. The 28-year-old CF sufferer tells of her terror at going into intensive care before Christmas as her lungs filled with mucus – and how starting on her new pills felt “like a miracle was happening in my body”.
I SAT in bed gasping for breath – but couldn’t get any.The panic set in and I just felt I was suffocating in my own body. I was given the option to go to the intensive care unit or basically die.This was the scariest and most surreal moment of my life.
I’m a stubborn girl and had refused to go into ICU a few weeks earlier.
Now my mind knew it was my last option. I could see the fear in my family’s faces as they stood by me, watching me get wheeled down to my bed.
The fear I felt that day I can’t describe. I really thought this was the end of me and the whole crazy wee life I loved – all gone because of cystic fibrosis.
Growing up, I never thought of death a lot. I never really thought CF would kill me – I thought I’d die doing something crazy like somersaulting off a building!
As I got wheeled through ICU
I took one look around me and screamed when I saw the people ventilated on life support machines in there.
I prayed to God that my family would be safe and I would make it through for them. I held on to my CF nurse and friend Orla’s hand and remember the ICU team telling her she had to leave. I cried: “Orla please don’t leave me!” My family also weren’t allowed in. After starting on Trikafta in ICU, I remember lying there feeling like a miracle was happening in my body.
Now I can’t wait to see what 2020 brings. I’m still weak due to muscle mass loss (I’m down to 6st 9lb) but those things will return in time.
I’ve seen the stories of others on Trikafta and always wondered, “Could it be true?” Now I am living proof of it.