This December Elena Nikolaevna Rozhdestvenskaya marked her anniversary.
It is a wonderful and important event in the life of every person, but for people with cystic fibrosis it is a great shared accomplishment! Elena Nikolaevna has moderate lung disease, W1282R and D1152H mutations. She is modest and brief when she tells her story.
«I was born in Leningrad in December 1957 and has lived in this city ever since. I finished school no.155 specializing in French. Then I entered the Lensovet Leningrad Institute of Chemistry and Technology. I worked as a technologist at the varnish-and-paint unit of the Red October factory. Then I became head of unit. In 1988 ‑1992 I studied for my PhD at the Organic Coatings Department of the Lensovet Leningrad Institute of Technology .
I have got disability with no right to work since 1995. Between 2005 and 2012 I was taking care of my mother who had group 1 disability. From 2013 to 2017 I took care of my lonely teacher.
In 1992 I had a son. He has graduated from the Medical Faculty of Saint Petersburg State University and is now in his second year of residency training.
My husband also used to work as a doctor and now we are both retired.
I have been driving a car since 1987. I believe I am a good driver because over 30 years of practice I have never had a single traffic accident.
I like classical music and songs composed and performed by amateur composers; adventure, history and funny films; peaceful and intelligent conversations; cooking and eating. I am fond of my family and my home. I would call myself a polite optimist».
We warmly congratulate Elena Nikolaevna! Such an anniversary proves once again that cystic fibrosis is not a sentence. Over the past decade huge progress has been achieved and every year people with CF live longer and fuller lives.