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Cystic Fibrosis through the lens

Cystic fibrosis is a fatal, genetic disease. One in every 36-hundred children born here in Canada has CF. Thirty years ago, most people with it wouldn’t live long enough to see their twenties. But huge advancements in research have now doubled the life expectancy. It’s this age group that one local photographer is focused on, encouraging people to take a new look at a disease that still has no cure.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And for Hamilton photographer Ian Pettigrew, he has a whole lot he wants to say, specifically about cystic fibrosis: “Maybe 50 percent of all the people that have it are now adults, but there hasn’t been a lot of focus on adults yet, so all these portraits that I’m taking, I’m hoping that I can make this book, travel, taking people’s portraits and just raise awareness of adults that are now having to deal with this disease”.
Pettigrew is compiling a book featuring portraits of adults with CF. He himself has the fatal genetic disease which reduces lung capacity, making it difficult to breathe. Usually perceived as a childhood disease, Pettigrew wants people to know that it’s impacting a much larger population: “Now, with medications, there’s lots of new drugs, organ transplants, people are probably living into their mid-40s now”.
Each portrait will have a personal note written by the subject. Ashley Landry’s story of living with CF will fill one of the pages in the book called ‘Just Breathe’.
Ashley Landry: “I want people to know that it exists and that it’s very prominent and it’s very terminal and it can also be very mild like myself, but there are people in the world that need more help.”
Pettigrew is currently raising funds in order to travel across North America with a goal of taking 100 portraits: “If maybe five or ten people decide that because of this book to actually sign their organ donor card and maybe one day someone’s live gets saved because of that, that would be fantastic”.
Hoping to accomplish this by telling a story about adults living with CF, one photograph at a time.