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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT — Exhausted, sick and struggling to breathe – that’s how Nicole Stringer feels almost every day.
The 27-year-old from Kelowna, B.C. was born with cystic fibrosis – a genetic disorder that causes mucus to clog her lungs and damages her organs.
She is also infected with a superbug – a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa that antibiotics can’t kill.
“(The superbug) will never go away so you are constantly sick and the older you get, the worse it gets,” said Nicole, who has documented her painful journey in video diaries that she posts online.
She uses puffers, an oxygen machine and takes a hundred pills every day to control symptoms like fever and nausea. But she’s still in and out of hospital every few months.
Like all CF patients, Nicole knows her lungs could fail at any time.
That’s why she travelled to the U.S. to become the first Canadian CF patient to try an experimental treatment called phage therapy – using viruses to kill bacteria. She’s part of a group of 13 patients receiving care at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut.
“I’m at a point where this is my last resort,” said Nicole.
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