Hi Steemit. I am Andrew and according to my life expectancy I have already lived more than half my life, but I am only 19...

Hello Steemians,

My name is Andrew and I was born with Cystic Fibrosis and more recently I have been diagnosed with type one diabetes. I have been hospitalized over 15 times and I take about 40 pills and 4 insulin shots a day, but other than that I enjoy a completely normal life.

Cystic Fibrosis, or CF for short, is a genetic disease that affects around 70,000 people worldwide. CF causes thick, sticky mucus to accumulate in my organs but primarily my pancreas, intestines, and lungs. Bacteria love mucus, so everytime I get sick the bacteria tends to settle in my lungs causing more mucus and making it hard to breathe and it is impossible for me to clear the mucus without the help of antibiotics. The antibiotics can only be administered through IV so I have to stay in the hospital for about 2 weeks everytime I get sick, which tends to be about once a year but I am currently going on 2 years without a hospitalization (knock on wood) which is the longest I have gone my whole life :). Now enough with the boring stuff, let me tell you about me.

I enjoy hanging out with friends, being outdoors (fishing, hiking, swimming, etc.), exercising, and just doing normal teenager things. I am entering my junior year at the University of Texas (hook 'em) studying biomedical engineering. I hope to one day work with a company to develop medical devices that will help people chronic diseases like myself.

Don't worry we released this little guy

14,000 feet was harder than expected

I will be writing on this beautiful platform about my struggles with living with Cystic Fibrosis and Diabetes and all of the things I have learned from it. Also, I will be writing about how I manage to stay positive and live everyday with a purpose and how I have learned to become thankful for everything in my life, even CF. From time to time I plan on posting about fitness (my first post will be tomorrow) and how it has completely changed my life and I will be giving advice about things I wish I knew when I first started my fitness journey. If I didn't bore you with my quick life story, please leave a comment about what you write about on Steemit or anybody that you recommend me to follow and if I find it interesting I will definitely give them or you a follow because right now my home page is a whole lot of nothing. Thank you for reading my first post and I hope to meet many new diverse people and learn interesting new things from this great community!