I Have To Protect Them - Cleofis Drisen

Chapter One: I'm Dying Part 1

I have always had a hard life, but I had friends that made my home life easier. My father, Matthew Drisen, has always been a major alcoholic and my mother, Stella Drisen, abandoned is when I was six years old. My father would always come home angry, and he'd take it out on me. My aunt found out my father was beating me when I was 15, so she insisted that I live with her. I tried to stay away from him, but he'd see me every once and awhile. 

Until about a year ago when I was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and given one or two years to live. COPD are an incurable group of lung disease which have two types, emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and lucky me, I have both. Emphysema is basically shortness of breath from damage to the lungs, whereas chronic bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchial tubes. When I was three years old I was diagnosed with asthma, but my doctors said that I was misdiagnosed and I had been untreated for too long. I now have to take several medications, which include: Bronchodilators in an inhaler three times a day, corticosteroids I breath in at night before I go to bed, roflumilast pills every morning, and oxygen therapy twice a week. I also wear a nose piece attached to an oxygen tank while I sleep. Sadly, I've stopped showing signs of improvements and I don't have enough money to try new experimental treatments.

While I was in the hospital for a week getting tested and diagnosed, my father never even bothered to show up. My aunt, Louisa Neuf, and cousin, Greggory 'Greg' Neuf, were with me the while time while I was there. I made them both promise not to tell anyone unless it was absolutely vital. The only people that know about my illness that aren't family or doctors are my principal, the school nurse, and the director of my dance studio. When I was released from the hospital I decided that I didn't want my friends to watch me die, and I started to plan everything out. We told everyone that we had gone camping for a week. My aunt has been helping me pay for my medication, doctors appointments, therapy, and treatments. 

I've been teaching two classes  a week at my dance studio; the classes are Child Musical Theatre and Child Jazz. I have been dancing since I was 4 years old and it's my happy place, aside from when I'm with my best friend Grizz. When I'm dancing, I can completely forget about school, my parents, and being sick. The director of the studio, Jillian, has been giving me 30-40 minute classes with very little cardio because my illness causes me to experience shortness of breath and cause an attack when I do any overbearing activity. When I take my dance classes there is a Pulmonary Rehabilitator who monitors the classes and trains with me for 20 minutes afterwards. On top of that, I also started seeing a nutrionist who helps me maintain a healthy diet of foods which help me strengthen me, and a psychologist who keeps my mental health in check through all of this.