Cystic fibrosis patient turns brush with death into Edinburgh Fringe show

A Scottish cystic fibrosis patient who wrote goodbye letters to her family before a revolutionary drug saved her life has turned her ordeal into an Edinburgh Fringe comedy show.

Yvonne Hughes, 51, from Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire, has lived with cystic fibrosis (CF) – a condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system – her whole life after her diagnosis at just six weeks old.

In 2018 she was told by lung experts she would not survive a transplant after her lung capacity had fallen to 26%.

She was placed on oxygen to help her breathe and began making memories with her family, believing she did not have long left to live.

Yvonne Hughes, a cystic fibrosis sufferer, was told she would not survive a lung transplant (Yvonne Hughes/ PA). PA Media

She also wrote letters to her family begging them to look after her parents when she was gone.

However in 2020, she received a life-changing cystic fibrosis drug called Kaftrio, which transformed her life and drastically improved her health.

Since then she has returned to full-time work, is in a new relationship and pursuing a career in stand-up comedy.

“Life’s amazing – I’ve gone from barely surviving to thriving,” Ms Hughes told the PA news agency.

“You have lived your life a certain way, and all of a sudden you can take a deep breath without having a massive cough, and fit.”

Before she was offered the Kaftrio drug, Ms Hughes had moved in with her parents as her health had severely declined.

“I was exhausted, I was literally bent over, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t really cook anymore,” she said.

“I just didn’t have the breath in me anymore to do anything, and even my speech had to slow down.

“I had also already passed the life expectancy as I was hitting into my 40s.

“At the time, the life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis was only 33 years of age.”

Within an hour of taking the drug, which came in tablet form, she started to cough up and eject all of the phlegm that had accumulated in her lungs over the years.

“I went to bed that night, and I had the best sleep I’d had since, I don’t know when,” she said.

“I woke up the next day and I had no cough at all.”

Since receiving the life-changing treatment, the quality of Ms Hughes’ life has improved drastically.

“I can walk up a hill now, I can breathe,” she said.

Yvonne Hughes performing stand-up comedy at the Monkey Barrel in Edinburgh (Yvonne Hughes/ PA). PA Media

Ms Hughes, who believes she has been given a second chance at life, has decided to take this opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a stand-up comedian.

“I’ve tried to get out and do something that I feel was always inside me, but I’ve never been given the chance to do. I was always too sick to do stuff,” she said.

“I took up comedy to change my life, I’m still learning. I’m going for it this year because I want to be the person that I thought I always was.”

Ms Hughes will debut her show, titled Absolutely Riddled, at Gilded Balloon Patter House at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

“It’s based on life before and after taking Kaftrio and how I went from barely surviving to thriving, and I’m in my 50s, when I really shouldn’t be here at all,” Ms Hughes said.

Her show, which features a song about mucus, makes light of some of the less savoury elements of cystic fibrosis and promises to share an unapologetic and hilarious take on her life.

You can read more about Yvonne Hughes’ show on the Edinburgh Fringe website.