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Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that Stella, Will, and Poe are all born with. It causes malfunction of the digestive system, which is why cystic fibrosis patients take in nutrients through a gastronomy tube (G-tube) inserted directly into the stomach. It also causes the body to produce excess mucus, which often leads to respiratory infections and poor lung function, among many other symptoms. People with cystic fibrosis often die young, as their lung function degrades over time. There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, though eligible patients can receive a double lung transplant. A successful transplant can add five to 10 years to a cystic fibrosis patient’s life. Since people with cystic fibrosis have fragile immune systems, they should never be within six feet of each other or anyone who’s sick due to the grave risks of cross-infection.
Cystic fibrosis Quotes in Five Feet Apart
The Five Feet Apart quotes below are all either spoken by Cystic fibrosis or refer to Cystic fibrosis. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1: Stella
Quotes
It’s not like I don’t want to go. It’s just, quite literally, a matter of life or death. I can’t go off to Cabo, or anywhere for that matter, and risk not coming back. I can’t do that to my parents. Not now.
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I close my eyes and take a deep breath, hearing the familiar wheeze of my lungs trying desperately to fill with air through the sea of mucus. Exhaling slowly, I slap a big Hallmark-greeting-card smile on my face before opening my eyes and pressing the enter key to go live.
Lying back, I pick up the worn panda resting on my pillows and wrap my arms tightly around him. Patches, my sister, Abby, named him. And what a fitting name that became. The years of coming in and out of the hospital with me have certainly taken their toll on him.
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We’ve fought CF together for a freaking decade. Well, together from a safe distance, anyway. We can’t get too close to each other. For cystic fibrosis patients, cross-infection from certain bacteria strains is a huge risk. One touch between two CFers can literally kill the both of them.
Chapter 2: Will
Quotes
There are a lot of things that piss me off about CF, but that’s not one of them. Pretty much all guys with CF are infertile, which at least means I don’t have to worry about getting anyone pregnant and starting my own shit show of a family.
“Lighten up, Stella,” I say, sauntering to the door. “It’s just life. It’ll be over before we know it.”
Chapter 3: Stella
Quotes
“He’s choking! Poe’s choking!” I shout, tears filling my eyes as I fly down the hallway behind Julie, pulling on a face mask as I go. She bursts through the door ahead of me and goes to check the beeping monitor. I’m scared to look. I’m scared to see Poe suffering. I’m scared to see Poe…Fine.
Chapter 4: Will
Quotes
Probably because for the first time in eight months, I’m a car ride away from home. Home. Where Hope and Jason are. Where my old classmates are slowly chugging their way to finals, shooting for whatever Ivy League school their parents selected for them. Where my bedroom, my freaking life, really, sits empty and unlived in.
Chapter 5: Stella
Quotes
He stops, leg floating off the edge. One more step and he would have fallen. One more step and he would have…
Chapter 8: Will
Quotes
But as I roll over and turn out the light, I realize for the first time in a long time, I don’t really feel alone.
Chapter 9: Stella
Quotes
“You ever think about, I don’t know…traveling the world or something?” I look back down to see number 27, “Sistine Chapel with Abby.” No line through it.
Chapter 16: Will
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Cystic fibrosis will steal no more from me. From now on, I am the thief.
Chapter 18: Will
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I think about that very last breath. Sucking for air. Pulling and pulling and getting nothing. I think about my chest muscles ripping and burning, absolutely useless. No air. No nothing. Just black.
Chapter 19: Stella
Quotes
“She’d make a wish and she’d never, ever tell me what it was. She used to joke that if she said it out loud, it would never come true.” The tiny pinpoints of light twinkle in the distance, calling out to me, as if Abby is out there now. “But I knew. She wished for new lungs for me.”
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Chapter 21: Stella
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“I never even hugged him. Never. Don’t touch! Don’t stand too close. Don’t, don’t, don’t!” I scream out, hysterical, coughing, dizzy. “He was my best friend and I never hugged him.” And I never will. The feeling is so horribly familiar, I can’t stand it.
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Chapter 30: Will
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We need that touch from the one we love, almost as much as we need air to breathe. I never understood the importance of touch, his touch…until I couldn’t have it.
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Cystic fibrosis Term Timeline in Five Feet Apart
The timeline below shows where the term Cystic fibrosis appears in Five Feet Apart. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Stella
...spent a lot of time in Saint Grace’s Hospital since she was first diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at six years old. Stella lives a normal teenage life most of the time, but...
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...they were little kids, and Stella is happy that he’s there now. Poe also has cystic fibrosis , so he and Stella have to keep physical distance between them so that they...
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Chapter 2: Will
...and searches her full name, discovering that Stella has a very popular YouTube channel about cystic fibrosis . He watches a video and sees that Stella is eligible for a lung transplant....
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Chapter 4: Will
...that Will must comply with the hospital rules—he shouldn’t get within six feet of other cystic fibrosis patients because of the risks of cross-contamination. Will argues that his actions don’t matter because...
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Chapter 6: Will
...the hospital. Will’s mom has always been overly cautious about his health since he has cystic fibrosis , but this time she was right that there was a problem. As soon as...
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...He wonders if they have ever had a romantic relationship. Poe says they couldn’t, because cystic fibrosis patients can’t touch each other. Will dismisses this—he’s had a lot of sex since he’s...
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Chapter 14: Will
...could kill her. Barb tells Will that when she was a young nurse, two young cystic fibrosis patients—Trevor and Amy—fell in love. Amy had B. cepacia and, because Barb let them get...
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Chapter 16: Will
...In the video, she talks about B. cepacia. She describes the rules of being a cystic fibrosis patient with the bacteria and talks about how B. cepacia lives mostly in saliva, so...
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...atrium later that night. Will repeats to himself what Stella says in her video: “ Cystic fibrosis will steal no more from me.”
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