For starters, a child with cystic fibrosis especially with lung complication symptoms can mean that you may out-live your child due to infections and deficiencies cause by the disease. After you come to terms with this fact, that cystic fibrosis is a disease without a cure; you will then have to come to terms with the fact that your child did in fact inherit the disease from you.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease which is caused by a mutated Chromosome. In the case of cystic fibrosis, the cause has been determined to be Chromosome 7. All chromosomes come in pairs, out of the 23 pairs each person has, the child inherits the pairs from their parents, one of each chromosome type which in effect creates the pairing. As a parent, you can carry this mutated gene your entire life without having cystic fibrosis simply because the chromosomes are in pairs and the good chromosome would pick up the slack that the mutated one leaves behind. When both parent carry a single mutated gene the child has a 1 in 4 chance of contracting the disease should they inherit the bad gene from both parents.

It is important to remember, that it is not your fault that your child has contracted cystic fibrosis. That bad gene could have been passed to you from your parents who got it from theirs and so on down your lineage. The most important thing to remember is that you should make the most of your child’s life no matter how short it is. The experiences that we go through in life are what make it worth while. Never give up on yourself and blame yourself and most of all, never give up on the child. There are many forms of treatment options out there that are available. And although there is not a cure for cystic fibrosis as of yet, in the next 10 years there very well could be.

Through treatments, you and your child can still live a healthy and active lifestyle and do all of the things a normal family would with a few small exceptions of course. By remembering that your child learns from you, if you allow yourself to become down for the child getting cystic fibrosis, they too will be down. Live life to the fullest if you can as this concept will be passed onto your child through their understanding and belief systems in which they will also inherit from you and your spouse.