I’M TERRIFIED THE PILLS I TAKE TO STAY ALIVE ARE ABOUT TO STOP WORKING

MACAULEY Tinston’s life depends on antifungal drugs. The 22-yearold building society worker from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has the genetic lung condition cystic fibrosis.

It means he needs to take up to 40 tablets every day – including antibiotics and antifungals – and uses devices called nebulisers to inhale other medications that help him breathe.

Cystic fibrosis causes a build-up of sticky mucus in the lungs, leaving sufferers vulnerable to respiratory infections.

‘Imagine trying to breathe through a straw,’ says Macauley, describing what one of these episodes is like. In the late 1930s, babies born with cystic fibrosis typically lived no more than six months. Today, more than half of those affected will survive into their 50s and beyond.

This is largely thanks to drugs which keep the worst aspects of the disease at bay.

Effective treatment has allowed Macauley to live as normal a life as possible. As a teenager, he enjoyed activities such as going on camps, flying and shooting with the RAF Cadets, which is where he met his girlfriend Madeleine. The couple, pictured left, have been dating for six years.

But cystic fibrosis sufferers are particularly susceptible to aspergillosis. Macauley, who is an ambassador for The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, developed the fungal condition aged 11, and was treated with powerful antifungal medication given via an IV drip in hospital.

However, the infection returned and now he takes azole medication as part of his daily regime to prevent it coming back again.

So it is nothing short of terrifying that these drugs are fast becoming ineffective.

‘It’s the fear of the unknown that gets you,’ he says. ‘If the tablets didn’t work, there would be IV medication, stays in hospital, being away from my loved ones.

‘And after that I guess I would be put on the lung transplant list, which is really worrying. I just try to take each day as it comes.’ cysticfibrosis.org.uk