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Mallory Smith’s memoir “Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life” may prove the most difficult book you’ll ever read. Because you know the ending. Smith was just three years old when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a progressive lung disease for which there is no cure. A defective gene causes a buildup of mucus…
As Sarah and her husband were checking off last-minute wedding preparations and appointments, they got a suggestion from their rabbi. He asked them if they’d been genetically tested for diseases common among Ashkenazi Jews. The couple, both Ashkenazim, took the rabbi’s advice and headed to their local JCC for a blood test. They figured it…
Every morning, while her college roommate is still asleep, Hayley Snider gets up and puts on a vest that vibrates and inflates to clear out the thick mucus in her lungs. Later, after evening marching band practice, the 19-year-old student forgoes hanging out with friends to return to her dorm at the University of Houston…
For generations, one Palestinian village just east of Jerusalem watched young adult after young adult lose their lives to a disabling disease. Eventually, the villagers learned that the previously unnamed killer was cystic fibrosis, a recessive genetic disorder that thickens mucous in the lungs and leads to life-threatening infections. But they failed to grasp that…
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