A young woman suffering from cystic fibrosis has shared how a 'miracle drug' has helped her start a family. Cystic fibrosis is a condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. This causes lung infections and problems with digesting food.
Eventually, without proper management, patients face a significantly shortened life expectancy and many also require lung transplants as there is no cure for the illness. Gillian Docherty, 36, said she felt was living on borrowed time and worried that if her and husband Andy, 35, had a child she wouldn’t be there to help raise it.
However, she was accepted onto a trial for drug, Kaftrio, in 2018 which changed her life and allowed her to start a family. Within two weeks of taking the drug, which reverses the main symptoms of CF, Gillian saw her lung function increase from 38 per cent up to 74 per cent. The recovery allowed dentist Gillian to have baby Frederick, born in December last year.
Before being accepted onto the trial for Kaftrio Gillian had already started getting her affairs in order and said starting a family was totally out of the question. Gillian, from Glasgow, said: “Being aged 33 and not being able to climb up a flight of stairs is not a position anyone would want to be in.
“I couldn’t even go to the cinema because people would complain about my coughing. I was severely underweight, constantly exhausted and just existing. I would never have been well enough to sustain a pregnancy.
“I was fighting illness all the time and I knew that even if we did have a child, it was very likely that I wouldn’t be there to help raise them. It was very much a personal decision which we had taken. We didn’t plan for a future as we wouldn’t have much of one.”
At the time, Gillian was taking upwards of 70 pills every day to keep the CF at bay. She was also regularly admitted to the QEUH to manage increasing infections.
In 2018 Gillian met the criteria for a clinical trial of the now approved drug Kaftrio which has effectively reversed the effects of the illness for her. When asked about it, Gillian said: “It was utterly mind-blowing.
“Within three hours I could feel it working. That first night, I went to sleep and woke up seven hours later – something that hadn’t happened for years. Midnight coughing fits and waking up with chest pain were the norm for me. That first morning I slept through the night Andy and I just woke up and looked at each other, lost for words at how effective the drug was.”
Today, her lung function is over 80 per cent and continues to improve. Gillian continues to build back up her strength and managed a dream trip to Australia just before the pandemic hit.
She added: “I want to thank all of the staff who’ve helped me manage my condition over the years. The CF multidisciplinary team have become like family and have always been an advocate for me throughout my treatment.”
Dr Gordon Magregor, consultant physician at the QEUH and one of the team looking after Gillian, said: “We have a large expert team of staff delivering CF care within the QEUH and Kaftrio has really been a gamechanger in treating the patients for whom it is clinically appropriate.
“It helps keep them out of the hospital and enables them to live pretty normal lives, albeit they will always need a level of care from staff for their condition. It’s fantastic to see the impact it’s had on Gillian, who has gone from rapid deterioration and an uncertain future to having a family and bright days and years ahead.”
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