Hi!  My name is Patricia Suzanne, or as my husband likes to call me, Pattysue.  This is my story.

On the morning of May 13, 1982, a healthy baby girl was born in New Jersey.  At the age of one week, I was placed in the loving arms of my adoptive parents, Donald and Agnes.  It wasn’t until six months later that it was discovered that I had an illness called Cystic Fibrosis (CF).  This life-shortening, genetic lung disease has been a challenge to live with but has also helped me in the development of who I am today.  I believe that God created me with a perfect plan, and that nothing in my life has been accidental.

    Psalm 139:13, 14 – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's

    womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.”

I grew up in a Christian household, where strong values were not only taught but lived out everyday.  I came to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior at the early age of six. 

I was a very healthy young girl, although my body was already dependent on many medications at a young age to help me battle against the inward physical deterioration that was taking place in my lungs.  I was also dependent on enzymes that I learned to swallow to help my body digest my food.  But most of all, I was dependent on my parents who so awesomely took on this challenge and placed it in God’s hands.  Each and every day they so creatively found ways to allow me to live my life as a normal little girl with such abnormal routines. 

Two to three times a day I would have my breathing treatments, and my parents would sing to me during my percussion time…I still sometimes hum the songs they sang.  Three times a day they faithfully gave me my antibiotics and vitamins, and every time I ate my mom would remind me to take my pills.  I had routine doctors visits every other month, and at the age of eight I became a regular patient at The Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia (CHOP), staying for a few weeks at a time once or twice a year.  Although I had five other siblings at home, I could always depend on Mom or Dad to be with me 24/7 each day I spent in the hospital.

As I entered the fourth grade, my parents decided to homeschool me, as it was in the best interest of my health care needs at the time.  Being homeschooled, I became a hermit crab, hiding in my shell…just kidding!  Of course, this was not true, although many people stereotype homeschoolers to be this way.  Especially at this age, my CF never prohibited my ability to have fun and be a “normal” kid.  My parents allowed me to be involved in activities with my home church, town sports, our homeschooling organization, and a very busy, close neighborhood and community of young friends.  As I look back and think of all the wonderful friends I met in direct relation to being homeschooled, I could never say that it was a bad experience.  It not only allowed my parents to uniquely set their educational goals with Christian standards in mind, but it was flexible with my situation whenever I became sick and needed to be hospitalized.

My brother, Joe, was homeschooled with me, so I always had a buddy to study with.  Being homeschooled also allowed me to pursue my passion and love for the many animals I had at the time.  Homeschooling allowed me to begin taking college classes in the tenth grade.  And most importantly, it gave me more time than most kids to be with the family I so very much love!  I ended up being homeschooled all the way through the twelfth grade.

My personal relationship with Jesus really began to flourish when I was in the seventh grade as I began to get more involved in ministry, serving others in my church and community.  My parents set the example for my whole family, and I can’t think of a time when they both were not directly involved in serving God and our church family in one way or another.  It was around my junior high school years that I began helping my mom to teach kindergardeners at church.  I loved it, and this became an early passion that God has continued to grow in me.

It is easy to look on a difficult situation like mine and to pout and think, “Why me?”  I will admit, I have done that a time or two.  But, as I look back on the many wonderful things that my Heavenly Father has done in my life and think of how He used my CF and certain life circumstances, I can only be amazed and thankful for how He has used these burdens and turned them into blessings, both for me and for those around me.

During my teenage to young adult years, my CF really began to be a physical challenge and somewhat of a burden for me.  But, during the roughest of the hospitalizations, emergencies, uncertainties, and apprehensions about the future, there was always a friend, an encouraging word, a family member, a circumstance, something or someone to lift me up.  God often used my personal, quiet times with Him during the valley periods to grow me even stronger in Him.  I believe that my faith in God is as strong as it is today in great part because of what He has taught me through living with my Cystic Fibrosis.

My story continues, and at the age of eighteen the most incredible changes took place in my life.  My family decided to move from my wonderful hometown of Hadden Heights, NJ to the south.  We moved to a rather nice portion of the south called the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina.  The move was hard, especially leaving some of my older siblings and their families, my close friends, and everything that I was familiar with at CHOP, but with God’s love and grace, I made it through.  That next year saw me completing my last grade school classes, transitioning to my new hospital, Duke University Medical Center, and enjoying my new life at the beach.

That year, I also met and began dating the man who, four years later, I would marry.  Nathan is the love of my life, and it was during this time, when my family was searching for a new church home that we met.  Nathan’s father is the pastor at Nags Head Church, and it was there that we found our new church home, and some of my favorite people in the world.  I am one lucky daughter-in-law, and am very blessed to have Nathan’s family as a part of my own now.

Now, I will skip a few years to the present.  Nathan and I were married three years ago on June 27, 2004 on the OBX.  Immediately after the wedding, and the honeymoon to Hawaii, Nathan began his first fulltime position in ministry at Westwood Hill Baptist Church (now known as New Song Fellowship) in Virginia Beach, VA. We enjoyed our two years in Virginia and miss the friends we made there.  Nathan is a gifted musician and singer, and has been called by God to lead His people in worship.  He is now serving as a Worship Leader back at his home church, NHC. I have used my passion for worship with children: I am currently working with children & youth at Nags Head Church, and I am also apart of the Video Tech Team.  We are both enjoying getting to know our church family and making great new friends.

Nathan  and I have moved to Nags Head the summer of 2006.  We are enjoying being close to both of our immediate families.  I just graduated last spring with a degree in religion from Liberty University. I am looking forward to the ways in which I can serve others here on the Outer Banks. We have a cat, Ralphie and a pug named Meka. We look forward to growing our family as God allows.

Things are transitioning quickly for us these past few months and we have some big decisions to make regarding my transplant. These next few months Nathan and I will be traveling often from Durham, NC to the OBX and although we didn’t plan for this unexpected life altering event, God knows and we trust in Him.

My visits to Duke have become more frequent, and with all of the advances in the search for a cure for CF, my health care has certainly changed over the past 20+ years.  I am so grateful for everyone who continually provides support and prayers for my health, from my professional health care providers to my friends and family who know me best.  God has blessed my life through the people I have come to know in my life because of my CF, and I continue to look forward to living out the life that He has given me.

Our life has changed dramatically in the past year since I last updated this. Many miracles have happened including: a baby born at 24 weeks weighing only 1.5 pounds. A new set of lungs after being on the ventilator and in the ICU for almost 4 months. A trial with lymphoma and going through chemo until being diagnosed, cancer free. My God is simply amazing and I am so thankful for his mercies which are new every morning! All which was journalized by my husband at: cfhusband.blogspot.com.

This is my story; my life, my journey with CF and my walk with my God.  The Lord can do awesome things through weak people, and I am truly an example of that.  He can take unordinary life situations and make them into extraordinary  experiences.  He can do the unimaginable at the most unexpected of times.  My life is filled with moments like these. 

If you are reading this, and you don’t have that personal relationship with my God like I do, I urge you to make a point to do so, even right now.  Not just for your benefit of knowing your eternity will be spent with God, but also because of how much more fulfilling and enriching your life will become because of knowing Him personally.  I can’t imagine a life without Jesus Christ, and I can honestly say that I would probably not be here today if I didn’t know Him.  My Lord and Savior is my Hope, my Happiness, and my All.  And, having Cystic Fibrosis, I am living proof that even in the most difficult of circumstances, I always can know in the deep, deep part of me that my God loves me. 

How can a loving God allow such a terrible disease?  Well, as I look back, I know that I am glad He made such a decision for me.  My life would not be the same had He not.  My disease is a blessing to me in disguise.

Tricia