'Before I was just surviving, now I am living my life to the full': New drug has changed James' life
A Shropshire man has become one of the first in the UK to be given a new drug for cystic fibrosis – and says it has completely changed his life.
Cricketer James Wojda, 29, from Whitchurch, was in his mid-teens when the life-long condition started to affect his health and his performance on the pitch.
He battled through becoming a professional cricket coach but his condition deteriorated and four years ago, aged 25, he suffered a slow puncture to his lung.
Two years later he suffered another punctured lung, this time as a sudden emergency which left him unable to breathe.
“I had to stop playing cricket, move back home with my mum and dad and get my head round the fact that I wouldn’t be able to run my own cricket coaching company,” said James.
Over the coming year he spent a total of 22 weeks in hospital, after 11 admissions. In March 2020, he was in hospital and at his lowest ebb.
“I was in hospital with the punctured lung and my veins had also collapsed so a port had to be put into my left arm. I was told that in another six months I could be going on to the lung transplant list.
“I knew about the drug Kaftrio and knew the team at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital had applied for a licence.
Changed
“One morning consultant Professor Martin Walshaw came in and held up a white paper bag and said he had something for me – a bag of Kaftrio tablets.
“My mum was crying, the nurses and pharmacist were emotional and I was emotional – I knew that was a changing point in my life.”
The effect was almost instant. On the third morning when he woke up he didn’t need to cough – for the first time in his adult life.
“Every morning I used to start the day coughing up mucus which had settled on my chest overnight and then being sick. Now, I don’t cough at all – in fact I haven’t coughed since three days after starting on the tablets.”
James is once again playing cricket and working as a professional cricket coach; he has been taken on by Shrewsbury Cricket Club to coach in the prestigious Birmingham Premier League.
“Kaftrio has completely changed my life.
"Before I was just surviving, now I am living my life to the full; my life has been given back to me and I can’t thank the hospital team enough for what they have done, researching and pushing for me to get the drug.”
