Five Feet Apart: For Many it is Real Life

There is a movie in theaters now called Five Feet Apart. It is the story of 2 young adults with a genetic disease known as Cystic Fibrosis (CF). I am looking forward to seeing it but in many ways it will be all too real. Many of you may not have a deep understanding of CF but for some of us we have lived through it, whether it is someone with CF or someone close to you. My daughter Gianna Rose Eliason had CF. I also have many friends with CF or family members who have it.

It was not that long ago where the life expectancy for CF was less than 18. CF is a genetic disease (so you will not catch it), that impacts your lungs and digestive system. Their mucus is thicker and tends to build up making CF'ers prone to catching germs that would not impact you or I. Years ago CF'ers would hang out in the hospital together. They even had camps where they would spend time together. This was before they realized that they were often killing these kids. The reason these things were deadly is because it would easily allow the germs to spread to all the kids. As time has gone on, many germs have built up resistance to many of the antibiotics.

It is difficult to educate on all the aspects of CF but I will say that through good treatments and early detection life expectancies have been rising, but there are many challenges. I have a very dear friend Janet. I met Janet and her husband Rich in 2002 in what can only be described as divine circumstances, but that is a story for another day. At the time our daughter, Gianna Rose, was about 1 1/2 years old and was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at birth. We would have the opportunity to learn so much from our new friends! Janet would be a special part of Gia's life even though they could not hug or be close in any way. Gia passed away from cancer in 2004. Since that time we would remain extremely close to Janet and Rich. We will always be grateful to them.

I mention Janet for another reason. This film does a great job at explaining why CF'ers have to keep a distance from each other but sometimes it is much more than 5 feet. Certain germs that CF'ers can carry (reminder these germs would not impact you or me) have devastating impacts on other CF'ers. Janet was diagnosed with CF later in life. Because of her diagnosis and other medical issues, her brother was diagnosed even later. Her brother caught a germ called Burkholderia cepacia or more commonly referred to as B. cepacia. It is the same germ that caused the CF camps to eventually close. Janet, with CF and limited lung capacity was told by her doctors she would not be able to visit her brother. She should maintain a football field length. This created many problems over the years that many of us would not even understand. 2 siblings could not be in the house with their mother, or attend a funeral together. They lost that human connection because of a germ that eventually would take her brother away from this world. It was heartbreaking.

So how can this help you in the business world? Here are a few takeaways:

1. We can never tell all that people are dealing with outside our work environment, but many of us have had to deal with way too much. Always strive to understand all aspects of the people you work with. It is always great to be human to each other.
2. Many people here on LinkedIn are doing work that helps you, your family members or friends with all kinds of issues like Cystic Fibrosis. It takes a village to improve life and hopefully one day eradicate diseases that take lives way too soon.
3. It is incredible that Hollywood would take the time to create a movie that entertains but at the same time educates people about something like CF. How can we do more things in other areas of business? It is a powerful way to give back to the community and help them understand other people. Special thanks to CBS for making this film.
4. Just as this movie touched me, hopefully you will be able to find something today that touches you in a powerful way. Maybe it is this blog post. Maybe it will be a note from a friend.

I firmly believe in this era that will be filled with robots and artificial intelligence, it is key that we bring humanity and more specifically the arts back into the business world. The robots can handle the process but the humans can handle the humanity. The key to doing this is changing the way we look at each other. That person next to you is not the competition for the next role, they are another human, similar to you with faults and troubles that you may not even know about.

Here is the trailer for the movie Five Feet Apart