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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?"

I started playing volleyball when I was nine years old. I instantly fell in love with it and knew I wanted to play at the collegiate level. However, having Cystic Fibrosis, I was not sure if that was possible. I did not have any role models in my life with chronic diseases who also played sports and felt very scared and alone. Fast forward to my senior year of high school, I have just signed a deal with the Boomer Esiason Foundation to post about being an athlete with Cystic Fibrosis. This felt weird because I have never been open about my disease, especially online. Little did I know that this deal would be just what I needed to branch out to so many other athletes today. I post about life as an athlete with Cystic Fibrosis and try to be as authentically me as possible to show my real life and my real self. My hope with this account is that young athletes with Cystic Fibrosis or other chronic illnesses will see someone just like them achieving their sports dreams at the higher level and motivate them or inspire them to go for their goals as well. In my personal life, I work as a travel league coach along with being a travel league referee. In both of these jobs, I connect with young athletes of all ages and get to hear bits and pieces of their stories during down time. I will never forget a time when I was refereeing a 15U game and after the game ended, the athlete that was keeping the book at the scoretable was talking to me as she was finishing up the scoresheet. She had POTS and really wanted to play in college but was scared about her health and her coaches not taking her seriously because her disease is not visible. I then told her about being an athlete with Cystic Fibrosis, another not-visible disease. This talk changed her outlook on college and recruitment. This not only inspired her but inspired me too. I want to help young athletes reach the college level, even if they have a chronic illness and my hope is that through the internet and through my jobs as a coach and referee I can reach hundreds of female athletes and be that role model in their life that I did not have at their age.