My Name is Michael Cushion and I’m 31.

My health is quite stable now; in fact it is a lot better than it has been in the last few years.  I went through a long period where I seriously abused and neglected my health.  From age 27 to 30 my health deteriorated a lot due to my drinking excessively, being in smoky atmospheres and not looking after myself.  It got to a stage where I had to be in hospital for treatment every month.  On one of those admissions they were concerned I’d done some serious liver damage.  So that was a huge scare, they thought I had varicies on my liver, which put the wind up me.  At the same time I met my now partner Amy.  She is the reason I calmed down and the most important thing in my life.  Amy is 21 and we’ve been together now for a year and a half.  In the past, partners haven’t understood my CF in great detail which has been a bit of a problem but Amy does, which is an advantage.  She already knows lots because she is a student nurse.

My liver stuff was the scariest thing to happen to me so far.  I’m not at the stage where I need a transplant, I can’t even imagine needing one, and it is not something I’ve thought a lot about.  If I was in the situation like my CF friends have been, I guess I probably would say yes, but I hope I’ve got a long time before I have to think about it, and the thought scares me even now.  I suppose if I needed a transplant, being able to exercise and play sports without coughing would be great.  So too would be being able to have a night out without feeling the effects the next day! I only hope that when the day comes, I can deal with transplantation with the strength that many of my friends have shown in that situation.  Generally I’m quite lucky at the moment, as my CF doesn’t affect too many areas of my life except probably work.

I feel my CF has affected me being able to get work in the past.  This is because I feel like I am going to be treated differently when they know, so I tend not to tell them at interviews but try to prove myself and then tell them later on, once they have seen me at work and can make a decision about me.  It isn’t very good and illegal in most cases but that is the only way I think works for me.  My friendships with mates that have CF are important because we can share problems like these which we all go through.  The other side of the coin is that you see people go through stuff, which you share and learn from which can only be a good thing.  They are also a lot of fun and we usually have a laugh.

Now I’m at my happiest with Amy.  We are planning to buy a house and also thinking about having a child, though the process is very complicated!!.  It is something to look forward to, far more than going out and getting drunk.  Although I still enjoy red wine with my meals