The story of Christine
My name is Christine, I’m 39 years old, married and the mother of a 13-year-old daughter and I live in northern Germany. I’ve suffered from constant inflammation and infections of the respiratory tract since birth, and I’ve had countless nose and ear surgeries.
Coughs and runny noses are my constant companions.
No one could help me or tell what was wrong with me. There was helplessness everywhere.
The odyssey went so far that from the year 2000 I no longer set foot in an ENT and pulmonary doctor’s office.
A liberating, but also difficult time, because I got middle ear infections several times, angina and even pneumonia twice.
I just tried to master my everyday life and take life as it was.
During this time I experienced a beautiful pregnancy and married my husband Sven three years later.
Then, on a Sunday in February 2016, my husband and I watched a repeat episode of Goodbye Germany on Vox.
There, a family emigrated to Spain with their boy who had PCD.
His symptoms looked so familiar to me that I quickly got suspicious and did some research on the internet – and what can I say: Everything I read about PCD applied to me…
This was followed in May 2016 by an appointment in an outpatient clinic at Hannover Medical School.
Yes, the doctor actually confirmed my suspicion: I suffer from primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).
An incurable respiratory disease in which the cilia on the mucous membranes are immobile and the mucus transport is thus disturbed (similar to cystic fibrosis)
From now on I will be treated adequately, I will receive many high-dose antibiotics and inhalation therapies.