Hi, I’m Travis Flores. I have cystic fibrosis and I am a two time double lung transplant recipient, currently, hopefully, going to be waiting for a third transplant.

What made you get involved as an advocate?

When I experienced hope and when I felt that energy of somebody receiving that hope and you can see it in their eyes that something’s changing. I had to do that for everyone, I had to really take what I was going through and somehow make it the best experience I could while I was alive and that became talking to people and challenging people and hopefully inspiring them to live without thinking about the fact that they’re going through an illness. Just living life as normal as possible.

What has helped you continue to push through life while living with a life-threatening illness?

I’ve lost a lot of friends, I just lost a friend two weeks ago to chronic organ rejection. When that happens it changes you forever. As you get older and more people who you love and adore and respect who are going through the same illness as you pass away, your voice becomes more important because there’s less people in the world to speak. That’s why I’ve continued to push through what I’m going through because, I have to on behalf of my friends who can’t.

What has living with cystic fibrosis taught you?

Live with your condition not for it and don’t think of your condition as ending your life, think of it as pushing you forward.

How has cystic fibrosis affected your relationships?

I think that when you are dealing with an illness, that’s already a lot to handle in your personal life, so you need to find somebody who can carry you in moments that you can’t, and I’m in those moments a lot right now and the person I’m with picks me up when I feel like I’m falling and guides me when I feel like I’m lost and motivates me when I feel hopeless. That’s the kind of person you need in your life, whether it’s an intimate relationship, or a friend or a family member, those are the kinds of people that you need around you when you’re dealing with this, so don’t spend your time with people who make you feel like what you’re going through is not valid.

How has cystic fibrosis affected your professional life?

Living with a disability or an illness you face a lot of discrimination in the work place. It’s either people don’t give you a chance or they’re afraid to give you a chance because they feel that you’re a liability. I have been living by this phrase that I came up with in the midst of a discriminating situation and it’s, “people with limitations often exceed expectations.” You can’t look at somebody who has a disability and assume that they can’t do something because people who have disabilities are the ones who are doing everything to stay alive and if they can do that, they can do anything.

What would you like people to know walking away from this video?

Focus on the things you can control. For me I can’t control my chronic rejection. I can’t control how sick I’m getting or how this is going to end, but what I can control is how I deal with it and I’m going to live every day happy and smiling and being around people I love because that is what’s important to me and that’s what should be important to other people. Find things that make you happy and be around those things as much as you can.