Jonathan’s Journey, From a Medically-Induced Coma to Thriving With CF
Though a long, stressful journey, Jonathan Mechan’s story of living and thriving with Cystic Fibrosis has a happy ending!
Learn about Cystic Fibrosis, the symptoms, and 65 Roses.
Jonathan’s aunt is a close friend of a Careteam Plus employee and spearheaded the GoFundMe campaign to help ease the pain of his healthcare costs. With May being Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month, we were reminded again of all the brave warriors living with Cystic Fibrosis.
Three of the four Mechan brothers has Cystic Fibrosis, two with CF in their lungs (including Jonathan) and the third with CF in his pancreas. Andrew, who has CF in the pancreas area, has never had to have a “tune-up” for it while Jonathan and Matthew have been in and out of hospitals since they were very young.
Jonathan shares his story to
“show people not to give up,” and “all you need is hope and faith.”
Jonathan made this poster and changed CF to stand for Cure Found instead of the disease.
Struggling With Cystic Fibrosis as a Child
Jonathan was in the hospital many times from a very young age. He had to be taken out of school and continue his studies at home he could not walk from one class room to another without having trouble breathing. He was even sometimes bullied during school due to his coughing and his stunted height, a side-effect of all the medications he had been on.
When Jonathan was 12 or 13, the disease was so bad that they did not think he was going to make it. He was put into a medically induced coma so the doctors could do everything they could to save his life. Jonathan has always been a very spunky full of life boy and is a fighter through and through. He came out of that coma with lots of therapy ahead of him, but worked through it knowing he wanted good lungs one day!
Happy Ending: New Lungs for Jonathan
On August 4th, 2017, Jonathan received two new lungs. The surgery was a success and, at 15 years old, he could finally start living his best life and is still thriving today!
On the left are Jonathan’s old lungs with obvious suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. On the right are Jonathan’s new lungs which are keeping him healthy and able to love life like any other young man his age.
