![]() “No matter what, even if it doesn’t reflect someone’s exact experience, I do think it provides just such a window into the types of challenges people with CF face every day, and sort of what the physical and emotional and, to some degree, financial burden is of this illness.”Īs for some of those challenges, Molasky takes enzymes whenever she eats, never leaves the house without a nebulizer and recently was upgraded to a home oxygen concentrator. The national organization wasn’t involved in the making of “Five Feet Apart,” which opens Friday, but she and other CF advocates have seen it.Įvery case of cystic fibrosis is unique, she says, so while those depicted may not ring true to some patients, the movie is at least creating a discussion. “They’re telling a story, so certainly there are elements that are not technically, like, to the level of a docudrama accurate,” says Jessica Rowlands, senior director of communications and media relations at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The title comes from Stella’s desire to take back one of those feet, considering everything the disease has taken from her. That isolation serves as the basis for “Five Feet Apart,” the first mainstream movie about the disease, which follows the burgeoning relationship between 17-year-old Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) and fellow CF patient Will Newman (Cole Sprouse, “Riverdale”). “It’s sort of surreal sometimes if you’re at your clinic appointment and they kind of stagger everybody so that nobody walks through the hallway at the same time.” ![]() You can’t talk to people face to face, because you can’t be by them,” says Molasky, who because of those restrictions never knew anyone else with CF until the rise of social media. “It’s really unfortunate, because there’s no, like, support groups. If more than one student in a school has CF, it’s recommended that they never use the same bathroom or drinking fountain. In essence, to prevent the spread of that harmful bacteria, CF patients are advised to remain at least 72 inches apart at all times. After years of camps, parties and other events designed to bring together children with CF, new information about the risks of cross-infection led to the development of what’s become known as the six-foot rule. The people to whom someone with cystic fibrosis would most relate are the very ones those patients can’t be around. So that same strain of bacteria may be (growing) in a CF patient for decades.” But they have that thick, sticky mucus that, once the bacteria gets embedded in it, it can kind of take hold, and they don’t get rid of that bacteria. “Normally, you and I breathe in bacteria, but our bodies clear it. That trapped bacteria festers and can be particularly hazardous, or even fatal, to other CF patients, Nakamura says. “As a result, you don’t cough up the mucus, it traps bacteria, and it causes recurring infections over time, which eventually leads to permanent damage of the airways and lungs.” Craig Nakamura, director of the CF Center of Southern Nevada. I can kind of live a normal life.”Ĭystic fibrosis leads to abnormal salt transport in the lungs and a thickening of the mucus there, explains pulmonologist Dr. “On my good days, it still would be probably somebody else’s terrible day, but to me, I feel somewhat stable. “When it’s bad, it’s really bad,” Molasky says of the condition that affects 30,000 Americans. ![]() Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) auren Molasky’s excitement about the upcoming romantic drama “Five Feet Apart” has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a sucker for movies about teenagers who can’t be together, even though they’re totally into each other, and everything to do with the reason why they’re so incompatible.īoth of the lead characters suffer from cystic fibrosis, which is slowly robbing the Las Vegas native of her ability to breathe. Craig Nakamura, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center of Southern Nevada, works in his Las Vegas office Thursday, March 7, 2019.
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