Kristin's Story
Kristin continues to confound the odds. Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF), a fatal genetic disease, at 2 months old, she was not expected to live past 3 years old.
When Kristin turned 7, she was told that with proper care, she might be lucky and make it to age 10.
As she celebrated her 10th birthday and moved into her teens, Kristin was repeatedly advised to expect "one more year."
In 1988, she graduated from high school and went away to college.
Now, at 32 years old, she continues to push the limits of her condition.
Kristin is beating the odds.
She attributes her own unexpected survival in large part to her parents' early dedication and honesty about her condition. They performed chest physiotherapy (CPT) twice every day for nearly 20 years. And they never let her forget the potential consequences of not taking care of herself.
While attending college, Kristin relied on the school's elderly nurses for CPT, which she supplemented with a hand-held percussor. She also returned home every weekend for more thorough therapy. Eventually, this limited CPT proved insufficient to clear her lungs of the tenacious mucus they harbored, and Kristin's health began to fail. In an effort to end this decline, she learned autogenic drainage.
The controlled breathing exercises involved in autogenic drainage are physically exhausting, require intense concentration, and are virtually impossible to perform during exacerbations.
While hospitalized with one such exacerbation, Kristin's doctor introduced her to The Vest® Airway Clearance System.
She was amazed at how easy it was to use and at how much more mucus she was able to clear without exhausting herself or relying on others to perform CPT.
Kristin received the Vest® System in 1996.
And she's still using it; balancing daily Vest therapy with a full-time job, extensive travel, volunteer work, a relationship with her boyfriend, reading and a weekly tee time at the local golf course.
Not only does use of The Vest® System allow Kristin more personal freedom, it has also helped reduce her hospitalizations to about two visits per year — a savings of roughly $30,000.
"The Vest® System allows me to be independent and take excellent care of myself. It also allows me to have a sense of control over my condition, which is hard to do because of the progressive nature of cystic fibrosis,"
Kristin said. "The Vest® System is an empowering tool in my daily battle against CF."