I’m Daniel and I am now in my early-20s. I have Cystic Fibrosis and have been attending the adult clinic since I was 18 years old. I tried to stay in the children’s hospital for as long as possible as I knew all the staff really well and I was a bit nervous, I had heard a lot of bad reviews in the media at the time. That’s all changed now and the facilities in the adult hospital are brilliant.

Attending the adult hospital was a really big change and I had no idea what to expect. For my transition, the CF nurse from the adult services attended my last visit in the children’s clinic. Then three months later, at the first visit in the adult services, my CF nurse and the doctor from the children’s service attended. It’s really different as there is a new team, new nurses, and a different system, it seemed really odd. The biggest difference is that in the adult hospital I am put in a room by myself and the team come to see me, whereas in the children’s hospital, I had to go from room to room to see the team members. At that first visit, I spent about one and a half hours between waiting for and talking to the different members of the medical team. No one told us what to expect, we felt like we were just picked up and dropped in the adult service.

I have always been independent and have been looking after my medication since I was 13 years old. My Mam would double check but I wanted to be responsible, I wanted to learn and take control as I think you can’t take any chances with your health. Before transition, I did worry about the new team, how they would treat me and whether they would want to change all my medicines. For me, feeling secure and trusting my team is a big thing and I had to find that feeling in the new clinic. Now I know that they are really friendly and great at their job so I’m really happy there.

Once you move to the adult clinic you are in charge, they treat you like an adult. You still have your family and friend’s support and help but whereas before you might have felt that your ‘Mam had your back’, now you are by yourself and you need to make sure you do things right. With this condition, there are certain things to be looked after, such as, nebulisers and medicines, so you have to have a routine but if you get into it at an early age it’s easier. Even with all that, I think that my condition has never really affected me or stopped me doing what I actually want to do. If I want to go on holiday or anything I just go. Nothing should stop you, just do what you can as you only live once!