health & wellness

Double Dose

Sisters work hard to maintain health
with cystic fibrosis.

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Sisters Emily and Molly Bonne!l contend daily with their cystic fibrosis.

I

Ruthan Brodsky

Contributing Writer

S

isters Emily, 17, and Molly
Bonnell, 19, have much in
common. Every morning and
evening they spend at least an hour
treating a health condition they've
known all their lives — cystic fibro-
sis.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic
disease that can cause damage to
the lungs and digestive system. It is
caused by a genetic defect that inter-
feres with the body's ability to carry
salt and water to and from cells. This
results in a buildup of a thick, sticky
mucus (normally thin and slippery in
healthy people) that plugs up tubes,
ducts and passageways, particularly
in the lungs and pancreas. The mucus
is difficult to cough
out, clogging the
lungs, and frequent-
ly leads to infections
and damaged lungs.
"There is no cure
for cystic fibrosis,"
says their mother,
Laura Bonnell of
Laura Bonnell
West Bloomfield.
"The treatments simply make the
disease easier to live with and prevent
infections and damage that lead to
more complications:'

Daily Treatments
Many of the treatments for CF are air-
way clearance techniques (ACTs) that
help people with CF breathe easier.
The ACTs loosen the thick lung mucus
so it can be cleared by coughing or
huffing.
Unlike reflexive coughing, which is
what healthy people do, ACT cough-
ing is purposeful, deep and controlled.
After other techniques have loosened
the mucus, effective coughing helps
bring it out. ACTs also are used with
other treatments, such as inhaled
bronchodilators and antibiotics.
Using high-frequency chest wall
oscillation vests twice a day is part
of the Bonnell girls' airway clearance
routine.
"Every morning and evening, the
girls put on their inflatable vests that
wrap completely around their chests:'
Laura explains. "The vests look like a
water-sport lifejacket with two large
flexible plastic hoses attached that
connect to a small machine:'
The machine is an air compressor
that makes the vest quickly inflate and
deflate against the chest wall creating
some pressure and vibration helping to
loosen the mucous.
Laura works mornings as a news-
caster for WWJ Radio-950. Their
dad, Joseph Bonnell, wakes the girls

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Double Dose on page 54

JN

July 31 • 2014

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