Channan Petrides has had cystic fibrosis since birth and originally, she was told her life expectancy would be roughly 40 years. As it turns out she only has about 18 months to live. She chose to remove herself from the organ transplant waiting list and though this news was, of course, difficult, Petrides has decided to live what is left of her life to the fullest. After her most recent diagnosis, she created a bucket list, which included meeting Ed Sheeran.
According to The Mirror, Channan explains that people struggle to see how she is ill because of how little she looks it. She tells them, “The truth is that I do only have a certain amount of time left to live. My lungs rip so I cough up blood, and I’ve been on morphine since November for chronic chest pain. Don’t get me wrong, I know transplants can be successful, I’m a registered donor myself. But over time, the cystic fibrosis will kill my organs too and I’ll have to go through dying all over again. I’d far rather the organs went to somebody who’d be able to go on and live a full, happy life. More than anything I want to educate people about cystic fibrosis. That’s why I’m sharing my story. I’m not one for sympathy. I try to be as positive I can and never like to splash it over social media if I’m having a bad day, but the response has been amazing.”
Can’t wait for the show to begin 😎
A photo posted by Channan 👸🏽💅🏽🌸✨💜💕 (@channanpetrides_) on
A few weeks before the concert at Wembley Stadium, she became ill with pneumonia and was taken to the hospital, causing her to worry she wouldn’t get to meet her idol. Luckily, her health improved and both her and her twin sister were able to visit Sheeran backstage before watching the concert. She explained the singer as, “So lovely and genuine, he had a great sense of humor and was really easy to get on with. He signed my program and we took some selfies together. He smelt amazing.” Some of her other bucket list events include going to a One Direction concert, feeding a lion, meeting a penguin and going on a hot air balloon ride.
Visit her GoFundMe page to help raise money for Channan’s bucket list to be completed.