Waking up on my 30th birthday this year, was different for me than others my age.
While most of my age group may have been dreading entering a new decade and others may be taking the 13 Going on 30 approach, it was different for me.
You see, I never expected to live this long.
Opening presents surrounded by my mum Bridget, 65, dad Leo, 67, and brother Niall, 23, felt surreal.
And the big birthday bash later, surrounded by my friends and family, was even stranger for me.
Living with cystic fibrosis, or CF, meant my life expectancy was shorter than average.
I remember Mum and Dad sitting me down in my preteens and explaining what cystic fibrosis was.
‘It might be you don’t live to 30,’ they had told me gently.
I even had a psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital to help me process the news.
But I didn’t think much of it – I thought 30
