“No, you don’t have hope for a normal life. You have hope for an incredible life.”Claire Wineland is not your average motivational speaker. She has lived with cystic fibrosis (CF) since birth and has already surpassed her life expectancy of 10 years, 15 years, and 18 years.
But it’s her straight-to-the-point attitude and her goofball sense of humor about it that make her so unforgettable. After a near-death experience that landed her in a coma when she was 13, she founded the Claire’s Place Foundation to help other families living with CF. Meanwhile, she posts her own personal thoughts on living while dying on The Clairity Project, a website dedicated to bringing “clairity” to what it’s really like to live with chronic illness.
2 fundraisers going on right now…jump in! Help make a difference for kids like me :) https://t.co/yAOTL10h6L & https://t.co/wtsMpxOJmt pic.twitter.com/7h7r4Q8Rjp
— claire wineland (@clairewineland) July 6, 2017
In the video below, she says, “People kind of simplify people who are sick. We act as if the only thing they think about is their health or the only thing they think about is death. When the truth of the matter is, that’s kind of the last thing on my mind.”
Read more:
Living with chronic illness changed this father of five’s spiritual life…for the better
Claire passionately shares her philosophy that challenges in life are always a gift towards “living a life you’re proud of,” which she cites as her highest priority. In her TEDxMalibu talk, she addressed people living with chronic illness and other challenges who feel like they can’t live a normal life, saying, “No, you don’t have hope for a normal life. You have hope for an incredible life.”
