Cover story
By Angela Parker
Boston’s Blessing At age 2, Boston Olvey is a chubby blonde cherub. To look at her, you wouldn’t know she has a life-threatening illness. When she was just a week old, her parents heard the diagnosis: cystic fibrosis.
CF has no known cure. About 30,000 children and adults in the U.S. have it — a number too small to merit federal funding for research.
“When we got that call, I was in complete denial,” said her mother, Ashley Olvey, RN, BSN, Community Health Network. “We had no clue. No one in our family has it. No one even knew what it was.” No one, that is, except Olvey, who studied the disease in nursing school. Given that knowledge, she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing.
Life with CF According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, CF is an inherited condition. When both parents are
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Indiana Nursing Quarterly
• indystar.com/nursing 2013
Winter2013 • Winter
carriers, their children may get the disease. CF causes the body to produce thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs, obstructs the pancreas and keeps natural enzymes from breaking down and absorbing food. When CF was recognized as a disease in the 1930s, patients typically didn’t survive childhood. Today, people with CF can expect to live into their 30s and 40s. The lifespan increase is attributable in part to CF screenings of all newborns. Early diagnosis means early treatment and extra precaution for families.