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"Consider the positive influence you aspire to have as someone living with cystic fibrosis. How do you hope to inspire and empower future generations of young adults with chronic illnesses?"

A significant part of my walk with Cystic Fibrosis has been maintaining a positive outlook on life. Life with CF becomes much easier to live when you focus on the positives, such as the character development and discipline that come from persevering through a chronic disease, rather than the looming possibilities. It was not until recently, however, that I was able to directly influence the life of another person with CF. This past April, I was at a Florida State baseball game sitting next to the father of a family of four. It was soon evident that this family, especially the dad, knew all the players on the team, seemingly on a personal level. In the fourth inning, I asked him if he was the father of one of the boys on the team. I had heard earlier that Florida State's star pitcher, Jamie Arnold, would donate money to CF research for every strikeout he threw this season. As fate would have it, the man I was next to was actually the father of the child who that was for! For the rest of the game, we talked about how living through high school, staying physically active, and managing college with CF has been for me. As I explained how I have been able to stay on top of my medications and maintain a healthy lifestyle, I could tell the dad had a sense of hope, almost relief, that his son could someday be attending college in a healthy and optimistic manner, too. After the game, he introduced me to his son (from a six-foot distance, of course). As I did my best to encourage him to stay positive throughout his walk with CF, it became evident to me just how impactful our conversation was. I could tell just by his huge smile and excited tone that I was positively influencing him. I realized that, because people with CF cannot get close to each other, I had never really met someone who was younger than me and had CF. I could easily see how encouraged he was that a college student could be going through the same thing as him. This helped me realize that staying positive affects more than just myself. I now realize that in order to influence younger people with chronic diseases, I have to keep a positive outlook on life. I see the influence it has on younger people who are going through the same things I have. It was easy to see that the father and son were very encouraged to see a mature, college student with CF doing all the same things that a normal student would—going to classes, making friends, even joining a fraternity. Maintaining this positive outlook is essential, for I cannot be sure when I will run into someone with CF. By keeping my focus on the upsides of CF, I hope to inspire younger generations to do the same.