Lisa Zaccaria Conquers Anxiety at 48 After Sister's Death at 35 and 'The Dash' Discovery
Updated
Updated · HuffPost · Jul 5
Lisa Zaccaria Conquers Anxiety at 48 After Sister's Death at 35 and 'The Dash' Discovery
1 articles · Updated · HuffPost · Jul 5
Summary
At 48, Lisa Zaccaria says she moved from merely existing to embracing risk after years of paralyzing health anxiety tied to cystic fibrosis, a shift she traces to her sister Michelle’s death and a poem she found in her desk.
Michelle died at 35 after a cystic fibrosis crisis left her on a ventilator with a 50% chance of survival, forcing Lisa to confront both her grief and guilt over harsh words she never got to take back.
A week after the death, Lisa found Linda Ellis’s poem “The Dash” in Michelle’s room and took it as a message to change how she lived the years between birth and death.
That resolve showed up in acts she once feared, including flying and parasailing 400 feet above Key Largo Bay, where she says she finally quieted the worst-case thinking that had ruled her life.
Doctors now put median survival for people with cystic fibrosis at 66 thanks to newer drugs, but Lisa says ongoing risks from infections still leave her determined to live without regret.