Imagine drowning, your lungs filling with water that swallows the air and suffocates those trapped inside. Now, imagine drowning in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors and family who can only stand by and watch the inevitable. This is the fate of a person suffering from cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a disease that forces a person to drown in the mucus that fills the lungs as it ravages the body. This chronic disease causes devastating health problems, has no cure, and forces patients to undergo painful and temporary treatments. Taking medications daily, maintaining a social life, and staying moderately healthy are a constant struggle for people with cystic fibrosis. Unlike many of the diseases that afflict people today, cystic fibrosis is given to each patient by their parents. Cystic fibrosis is a disease present at birth and transmitted to patients by a defect in the parents' genes (Lewis 1). A patient must obtain a copy of the cystic fibrosis gene from each parent to be born with cystic fibrosis ("Cystic", umm.edu 1). In the United States, cystic fibrosis is the deadliest and most common inherited disease among Caucasian Americans, with millions of Americans unaware that they carry the defective gene ("Cystic," umm.edu 1; "Cystic," Hereditary 45). one in twenty-nine Americans with over thirty thousand known carriers among children and adults (“Cystic,” umm.edu 1; “Information” 1 Although cystic fibrosis is very common, many are unaware that they are carriers, this can). be easily resolved with a simple medical examination. Diagnosing cystic fibrosis is extremely simple and easy. A simple test is important since so many cases are diagnosed: "Approximately [one thousand] new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year" ("About. ..... middle of paper ...... numerous medications. Fibrosis Cystic fibrosis is a chronic, inherited disease that, although easy to diagnose, has many terrible symptoms and social problems that make life with cystic fibrosis a constant struggle. Although every breath is painful, people with cystic fibrosis still fight with every breath they take. Works Cited "On Cystic Fibrosis" Cff.org. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, nd. 12, 2013. "Cystic Fibrosis." 50. Print. “Cystic Fibrosis.” umm.edu. “Cystic Fibrosis.” 1993): 22. Academic Search Premier.Web November 18, 2013.Silverstein, Alvin, Virginia Silverstein, and Robert Silverstein. Cystic fibrosis. New York: Franklin Watts, 1994. Print.