How living with Cystic Fibrosis made Covid-19 'scarier' for this Cork woman

From a fright at the height of the crisis, to a new lease on life with a new treatment, Laragh FitzGerald refuses to be limited by the condition

Laragh FitzGerald, a 27-year-old from Crosshaven, Cork, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was seven.

It was a Friday evening after work in March 2020, Covid-19 had just struck and Laragh FitzGerald’s flatmates were worried.

The 27-year-old Cork woman has cystic fibrosis (CF) and – chatting in the kitchen of their small apartment in Clapham Town, South London – Stan and Katie explained how scared they were of catching Covid and infecting her.

“They knew I had CF and they were very fearful if they brought it back I’d definitely catch it from them,” says Laragh from Crosshaven, who was diagnosed with CF aged seven.

An inherited chronic disease, CF primarily affects the lungs and digestive system – a defective gene causes production of thick sticky mucus that clogs lungs and obstructs the pancreas, stopping the body’s natural enzymes from breaking down and absorbing food.

Laragh had been planning a two-week break back in Cork anyway. “So I decided I’d go home to Ireland a bit sooner. We had the discussion on the Friday evening and I booked my flight for Sunday. Covid was so scary – the thought of catching something my doctors had never seen before! At home there’d be more space, whereas in London I was surrounded by people.” 

Ironically, while coming home to be safe, Laragh caught flu on the plane and became terrifyingly unwell. “I was bedbound, couldn’t eat, couldn’t lift my head, my throat was swollen and I couldn’t really see because I was so dizzy.” 

On the fourth day she coughed up blood. “Panic set in. I thought I’d picked up Covid. I thought ‘is this how I go?’” Hospitalised at CUH for two weeks, on IV antibiotics and hooked up to oxygen, a clear Covid test came as a massive relief. “I was a bit traumatised by it all. To get that sick, that quickly, in my 20s. I was terrified, thinking if flu hit me so bad, what could Covid-19 do?” 

A business development manager, Laragh was furloughed for five months from her job with Irish meat processing company Kepak. While her job could be done remotely, the role involves travelling to various parts of the UK. 

“Partly, I was relieved because I was still recovering from flu, but it was also really tough. I was massively missing London. All my life, I’ve been afraid of not being independent because of CF, of not being able to work, of having to be dependent on my parents.

“I was so proud of my fulltime job, of living in London. Yet within a few weeks my London life was taken from me, my health, my job. Everything I’d built for myself and been so proud of, taken in one swoop.” 

Online therapy helped, as did physical activity – walking, short jogs, at-home workout sessions. Living back home with her parents – Laragh’s the youngest of four siblings and the only one with CF – she feels lucky to have had the sea nearby, a big garden and the family’s dogs. When things slowly started opening up last summer, she focused on reclaiming her independent life. She returned to her London apartment in August. It wasn’t ideal – her flatmates had gone to stay with their families, returning to London just some weekends.

“Most of the time I was by myself. But I was back working so I was distracted during the day. Touch rugby and five-a-side soccer had started back up, so I had those, plus walks in the park with my friends. I wasn’t too lonely.” 

In November London went into a second lockdown. “I was quite distressed. I was paying a lot of money for a flat in London by myself. My housemates were paying too, yet not using it. It wasn’t feasible to keep doing this. So we gave it up. We made a plan to come back in February and find somewhere else. I was heartbroken.” 

Laragh had encountered similar heartbreak in her early 20s when she’d had to give up playing soccer with her local Crosshaven team. At the time she just knew she couldn’t keep up at the level she’d been used to. “It used to be this thing that made me really happy and it ended up causing me such pain – I’d be struggling to breathe during a match. It became too hard, too upsetting – it reminded me I had CF and that my body wasn’t working as it used.” 

Leaving London last November for the second time, it was like she was re-visiting that territory. “This whole life I was so happy with, that I’d just got back, was being taken again. And I was thinking, is this going to be my reality with CF, where I can’t do anything?” 

To stay healthy, Laragh’s daily routine includes airway clearance, nebulisers, enzymes and medication. For her, it’s ordinary life but there are days she finds it “really annoying”. The pandemic has intensified her awareness of the implications of CF. “How fragile I am because of CF became very real. I was constantly being told I was vulnerable. You never like to think of yourself as vulnerable.” 

But getting CF treatment Kaftrio last November has helped her turn a corner. Prescribed it in London, she’d already seen online how US-based patients were benefitting from it. By mid-December, the effect had kicked in for her. Her lung function almost doubled, her coughing reduced and she put on weight. “Within a month I’d put on 10kg. I was delighted! I’ve been underweight most of my life and always saw myself as skinny and sickly. Now I love looking at myself in the mirror!” 

She was able to run for longer. “I just broke down crying when that happened. I thought oh my God, so this is what it’s like for people who can run and breathe!” She turned another corner when she returned to London in late February – and days later got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. “My GP’s surgery texted me while I was in Ireland – they said to give them a call when I was back and they’d set me up. I’ve no idea when I’d have got it in Ireland. I was in the best mood coming out of the GP’s surgery.” 

Her housemates are delighted too. She, her two former flatmates plus two other friends have found a “much bigger, nicer house” in Clapham. And she has the London marathon on her horizon. She hopes to run it in October, just days before her 28th birthday. “I’ve never done a marathon. It’d be amazing if I was able to do it,” says the woman who refuses to be limited by CF.

• Due to Covid-19, Cystic Fibrosis Ireland can’t proceed with its 65 Roses Day collections on Friday, April 9. 
• The public is instead asked to support people with CF on 65 Roses Day by donating online or by participating in a 65 Roses Challenge. 
• Funds raised go to support range of services for people with CF including funding of hospital CF facilities and staff, research, and patient grants for counselling/exercise equipment/fertility treatment/transplant out-of-pocket expenses.
• Follow Cystic Fibrosis Ireland on Facebook at @CysticFibrosisIreland, and on Twitter and Instagram @cf_ireland. Hashtag is #65RosesDay.