This story appeared in the November 2020 issue as "What We're Reading." Subscribe to Discover magazine for more stories like this.
What started in 2012 as research for a single article for Discover led science journalist Trivedi down a rabbit hole of information about the ongoing fight against cystic fibrosis (CF). At the time, the FDA had approved a new drug to treat the life-threatening condition, which fills the lungs with fluid and hinders the pancreas’ ability to help with digestion. Roughly 80 years after scientists first identified the condition, it remains incurable.
In Breath From Salt, Trivedi starts with people — specifically, the O’Donnell family, who lost their 12-year-old son, Joey, to CF. She weaves the story of the Joey Fund, the O’Donnells’ nonprofit that has raised more than $250 million for cystic fibrosis research, into a sensitive and informative account of how our understanding of CF has transformed, ...
