We're starting off today's show
with a lesson in perseverance
and why it's important to pay attention to
any small changes in your body.
Being active has always been important to Megan Wierzbicki.
- It just makes you feel good and get outside
and then enjoy it when you can.
Weekend snowboarding trips,
go for a hike.
We used to go biking.
Go on a jog, whatever it may be.
- [Jane] But a few years ago Megan found
herself struggling to match the pace of her friends
on those adventures.
- If I was snowboarding in the wintertime
having a hard time keeping up with the rest of my friends.
Even though we were all just as fit as one another,
having a hard time breathing, coughing a lot.
So there's multiple signs that
started years before my diagnosis.
- [Jane] Concerned, Megan headed to the doctor.
- I knew it was something.
There's was no mistaking it was something.
And I was 29 years old.
It was terrifying.
It was very scary.
- [Jane] Doctors initially thought
she had asthma but a CAT scan revealed something else.
LAM lung disease.
- LAM, or lymphangioleiomyomatosis is
a rare lung disease that
afflicts almost exclusively women.
It involves many cysts in the lungs
or sort of air pockets surrounded by a thin wall.
That start to fill the normal lung tissue.
That can impair a persons ability to breathe well.
Moderate to severe and I say that
based upon your pulmonary test.
It can cause low oxygen levels
and impair someone's quality of life and ability to exercise
and participate in normal daily activities.
- I was pretty numb.
It happened so fast, it's hard to understand it
at the time.
There's a lot of emotion but
I tried to stay as level headed as I could.
- A CAT scan is going to be the only
firm clue towards that diagnosis.
They can develop this milky fluid in the space around the
lung and that milky fluid can
cause a person to feel even more short of breath.
- Doctors first help Megan get involved in a drug trial.
Which was the first step toward her future.
(beep)
(zipper scraping)
- The good news with that drug was that it
did stabilize my lungs.
- She had been started on this medication
that also reduced the amount of fluid that was
building up around her lungs.
To slow the decline of lung function.
- [Jane] Megan was also encouraged to stay active and use
oxygen to help her do so.
- I think exercise is super important
for these patients.
It might not make your oxygen requirements less
but it will help you feel better endurance,
better quality of life.
- Lot of times you'll see me
walking around with my oxygen on
if it's anything more than just walking around the yard.
I just try to be as active as I can.
It's not something that's going to make me sit on the couch
and you know do nothing all day long.
Definitely getting out there and doing as much as I can.
- She feels a lot better now.
She's been able to stabilize her symptoms,
she needs less oxygen than she did before.
And my hope in anyone who has lung disease
and specifically in someone with LAM,
even if its getting more severe is to
stay active, to participate in life,
do the things that you enjoy doing.
- [Jane] Megan says the final key to managing
is a positive attitude.
(Megan laughs)
- There's still so many things I can do.
There is and I'm very lucky.
It's important to me that I just keep doing the
things that I can do and even pushing myself.
I don't want it to consume me.
- [Jane] She now hopes to inspire others living with LAM
not to give up on what they love to do.
- Taking care of your body as much as you possibly can.
And making that the priority.
And doing the best to manage it to be as healthy as you
possibly can to enjoy again abilities that you do have.
And take advantage of them.
Use them.
(laughs)
Make it a good, fun life.
(happy horn music)