These portraits of Emily Monfort were taken in 2008 and 2011. On the left she is thinner and more frail, though most people would not realize how ill she was except for the oxygen tube. On the right she is a bit more robust and lovely as ever. The truth is that Emily would not even be in the 2011 photo except for the miracle of a double lung transplant.

When Emily was a child, she was full of life and zest. To the outsider’s eye it was impossible to tell that she had cystic fibrosis, a genetic and incurable disease. In spite of her diagnosis, Emily became an ice skater, skier and soccer player. Every morning, to clear her lungs, her parents would pound on her back to shake loose the thick mucus created by the disease. She took pills to digest her food because, as another aspect of the disease, her pancreas didn’t produce proper enzymes. Emily grew into a beautiful young woman. Then, just as she began to study nursing at the University of Oregon, her health began a precipitous decline.

Treatment for cystic fibrosis has improved over the past decade. But after 23 years of struggle, Emily’s lungs deteriorated to a point where she could hardly breathe. She quit college and moved back home so her parents could help her. She developed a fungus in her lung and had to have a lobe removed. In April 2008 she coughed up one third of her blood volume.  Later she required an oxygen tank just to walk. When I photographed her in my studio in December of 2008, her father had to carry her up the stairs. Soon after she was put on the transplant list at the University of Washington. She was becoming more frail by the day. Continue Reading »