Comedy has helped me to process my life with cystic fibrosis

My CF journey 

I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis a couple of weeks after birth through the heel prick test. From that point on, my parents were really on top of all the treatments and it helped that my mum was a neonatal nurse and so already in that world. I was raised with a diligent outlook on treating but she would say: “CF fits around our life, we don’t fit our life around CF”. 

I was relatively healthy as a child and didn’t get admitted for IV antibiotics until I was about 11, and then from that point I was in and out of hospital and that became routine. In 2018 I started taking Kaftrio on a clinical trial, and haven’t been admitted to hospital since 2017, or needed oral antibiotics. 

Kaftrio has been amazing, but it hasn’t solved everything. I don’t know if I’m in the category of people who need intervention to have children, and there are lots of other possible complications of my CF that might need attention in the future. There’s still people who can’t benefit from modulators, and who have side effects, and other people have things like antibiotic hearing loss which isn’t suddenly going to be fixed. CF still needs as much attention as it did before modulators.

Following my passion

I’ve always loved stand-up comedy and shows like Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo. I did a stand-up comedy course in 2018 – I’m someone who always likes different side quests – and that further sparked my interest. It became a way to process my life with CF and my gender identity. Really tragic aspects of life or things that are difficult to deal with are perfect fodder for comedy: if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry! 

I’ve been gigging more regularly and really enjoying it. I even recently won the G&B New Act Competition in London. I talk about my trans experience as well as my CF and feel like there’s things that people can take away from my sets as well as laughter. With CF, it’s about wider knowledge and awareness, and with being trans, it’s about educating people and showing that we exist; I’m here on this stage despite the backlash that we sometimes receive. I feel empowered when I’m on stage. When I feel in command of people’s laughter, that feels amazing. 

I love the idea that I could inspire another person with CF to try their hand at something like comedy. My advice to anyone thinking about it is just to try it. You might absolutely bomb, but that’s okay, because there’ll probably be one or more jokes that work and you can keep. Just keep flexing that creative muscle by writing all your comedy ideas down and try and do them on stage, even if you don’t feel ready – here’s a secret: nobody’s ever ready!

Do you have a creative hobby or passion you’d like to share in CF Life magazine? If so, get in touch with us at [email protected]. 

Willow is performing at the Colour House Theatre in Merton on 5 September. Find out more at mertonpride.co.uk