Lauren Beyenhof January 2009
With all of the challenges of cystic fibrosis (CF), Lauren Beyenhof, 28, has learned that you never know how much you can face until you turn around and see what you've accomplished. With a positive attitude, strong faith in God and the steadfast support of her husband, Brad, and her family and friends, Lauren fights her CF every day while not letting it define who she is as a person.
Lauren was diagnosed with CF at birth after having meconium ileus, an intestinal blockage that occurs in newborn infants; this type of blockage is found in approximately twenty percent of patients with CF. She grew up in a close knit family on a dairy farm in California; her dad worked just outside the front door, and her family shared two meals a day together nearly every day. Lauren credits her family with helping her get through some of the toughest times of her life, offering her incredible support. Her family is always the first to bring her cards and treats whenever she is hospitalized.
In addition to the support and affection she gets from her mother, father and sister, Lauren receives tremendous strength from her husband Brad. Lauren and Brad met at a mutual friend's party on New Year's Eve 1999 and were later married in 2003. She describes him as a "perpetual thinker," a band-geek and her rock.
"My greatest joy in life is being married to a man who doesn't see CF as a handicap or a disability," she says.
Lauren has a degree in environmental science and works as an air quality scientist. She is also a professional freelance writer who has two CF related blogs: Breathing Deeply and Blogging about CF. Her primary purpose for writing Breathing Deeply is to share her own personal experiences so that others with CF can relate to her.
"In many ways, Breathing Deeply serves as a trail map for coping with CF," Lauren says. "I also share my regular life on my blog to encourage people to just get out there and live in a way that accommodates CF, not cowers from it."
In her other blog, Blogging About CF, Lauren has compiled a collection of articles to help fill a need she saw for understandable information online about CF.
"People were uninformed about the little bits and pieces of CF," Lauren says. "I wanted to bring it down to a basic level and make it easier to understand without it being clinical, cold or scary."
"By telling the story of her own struggles and triumphs with CF, she has become an inspiration to others," says Somer Love, Heroes of Hope™ Living With CF Panel Member. "Despite all the difficulties she has faced throughout her life, she shows that with tenacity and a positive attitude, anything is possible."
In addition to juggling her two jobs, Lauren understands the importance of compliance and maintains a very strict medical routine in order to stay in good health. Each morning she begins at 7 a.m. with airway clearance followed by nebulizer treatments and sinus passage irrigation. She then stretches and does light weight lifting exercises or push-ups. She also takes enzymes and multivitamins with every meal and an afternoon nap to recharge. She begins her "power down" routine at around 8:30 p.m. and makes sure to get nine to 10 hours of sleep every night in order to have the energy to maintain her strict daily routine. Lauren also exercises at the gym regularly and has recently started working with a personal trainer, which she says has greatly improved her mood and energy levels.
In her spare time, Lauren volunteers with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and has raised $15,000 for Great Strides over the past two years. She also enjoys cooking, playing the piano and has recently taken up knitting.
Lauren recognizes that CF has profoundly shaped the choices she has made in life but does not let it define her as an individual. One message she hopes to share with other people with CF is that "the choices you make in life and the attitude with which you approach the challenges presented by CF, ultimately carve out the kind of person you are."
Please note: The information contained on these Heroes of Hope™ Living with CF award recipient biographies are not regularly updated. The information only represents the point in time when the Heroes of Hope recipient was honored.
