Nature lover with incurable cystic fibrosis who would not plan fearing she would die by 32 maps out a shining future as endurance running saves her sanity

A nature lover who would not plan ahead fearing she would die before she was 32 after being born with the incurable lung condition cystic fibrosis is mapping out a shining future  – saying running around the world has saved her sanity.

Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) aged 18 months, a genetic condition causing sticky mucus to build up in the lungs, Hannah Campbell, 29, trudged through bouts of depression and anxiety during her teens because of the life-limiting condition.

Everything changed in 2018 when, already given hope by new medication, she adopted rescue dog Affy, an English setter cross, and started running with her in the picturesque countryside around her home in Crickhowell, Powys, Wales.

Now living with her partner-of-two-years, software programmer Gareth Parker, 31, content manager Hannah even ran 160 miles over four days in the Italian Dolomite mountains in 2019, saying: “Running has saved my outlook on my life. It has saved the way I view my life. I don’t see it as being this almost pointless and expendable thing now.

“I went through so much isolation and negative headspace, pain and uncertainty in my younger years.

“While endurance racing gets hard, it never gets that hard.”

She added: “The advances in treating CF through the NHS are saving me physically, but running has saved my mental health. ”

Living in Kenya, East Africa, with her now divorced parents Clare Campbell, 51, who owns a business in the UK, and Ian Campbell, 60, a retired banker, when she was diagnosed with CF as a toddler, Hannah was flown back to the UK for checks every few months.

The outlook has improved for people born with CF, where a build up of mucus in the lungs and digestive system causes lung infections, with half those diagnosed living at least until their mid-40s, according to Cystic Fibrosis UK.

And, despite her condition, Hannah tried to keep fit by running and doing physiotherapy twice a day, although she had to take around 50 tablets daily to stop her from developing debilitating chest infections.

Moving around to stay well is something she recalls doing at an early age living in various countries in Africa, where she stayed until she was 15, saying: “Movement has always been ingrained in me as something vital to my health.

“The climate and heat was so good for my lungs, and my parents kept me moving a lot. It is such a good way to clear the airways.”

She added: “The lungs are like a muscle, so the more you use them the stronger they get.”

Moving from Botswana to Hereford, near the Welsh border, in 2007 with her mum, after her parents separated, to study for her GCSE exams, she struggled in her new surroundings and stopped running.

Sadly, her condition rapidly deteriorated and she ended up battling a chest infection every six months, which saw her hospitalised and taking long courses of antibiotics, which she says “wrecked” her body.

Hannah said: “I was so used to the weather in Botswana, where I could run in the sun after school. I was used to running in intense heat.

“I felt relatively well when I lived in Africa, but when I moved back to the UK in November time, it was dark, dingy, cold , damp and horrible.

“I didn’t have the love for training outside anymore, and as a teenager different things became important, so I stopped doing it altogether.”

She added: “My condition took a nosedive and my lung function went from being in the 90s to the low 50s.”

Every hospital visit also involved a three-hour round trip to University Hospital Llandough in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.

Her mum would drive her before she got her licence and she dreaded the journey, which often left her exhausted and tearful, while her CF caused pain and sleepless nights.

Feeling like her life had no purpose, she said: “It was really difficult as a teenager, because I wasn’t looking after myself and moving as much as I should, so I was picking up these infections really often.

“Sometimes I would leave hospital appointments in tears, because of the journey.

“I suffered with sharp, relentless pain so, despite being told to rest, I couldn’t sleep.”

Once in hospital for more than two weeks, she had a problem with her IV lines, used to deliver antibiotics into her bloodstream.

Hannah said: “My body rejected about seven IV lines, so my entire arm from my hand to just below my shoulder was covered in bruises.

“I had to go in for another IV line but it was inserted with the help of an ultrasound machine, as they had to find a big thick blood vessel that goes into your heart. They inserted a 25cm IV straight into my heart.”

She added: “I thought I was going to have to deal with this for the rest of my life, it was completely isolating.

“I was always far away from my friends and family. As a teenager, your whole life is your social life, so it was really difficult.”

Even in the cystic fibrosis ward, where she was surrounded by other people who could relate to her pain and anguish, Hannah was alone, as patients have to stay isolated due to their heightened risk of infection.

And with all the stress of the treatment, Hannah plunged into deep and anxious depression.

She said: “I was completely alone.

“I had a lot of negative thoughts and self doubt. I told myself I wasn’t doing anything.”

Dogged by negativity and fears she would die, after finishing school, Hannah refused to make long-term plans and avoided long, meaningful relationships, as the life expectancy for someone with her condition at the time was just 32.

Unable to see any light at the end of the tunnel, she said: “When I was 18, 19 or 20 I wasn’t having conversations about long term plans, as the life expectancy at the time was 32. At that age you’re not planning for retirement.

“I had no motivation to go into university. I didn’t want to get into debt with a student loan and then start a career I had to give up.”

She added: “I didn’t start saving for retirement, as it felt completely pointless, too.

“And I didn’t commit to relationships where I thought I might get married and have children, as I didn’t think it would be my reality.”

Spending around a month of every year in hospital with painful chest infections, things started to look up for Hannah in December 2016 when she qualified to receive a “wonder drug,” Kalydeco –  the first precision medicine for cystic fibrosis to become available on the NHS.

The drug changes the way the proteins in the lining of the lungs work and has been shown to improve lung function by 8.7 per cent, according to data from the UK Cystic Fibrosis Registry, but has been known to be even greater for some patients like Hannah who saw a 45 per cent increase.

Hannah said: “When I was 22, I was put on a new medication called Kalydeco which completely changed my world.”

And in spring 2018, by then living in South Wales, Hannah, who does not want children, adopted Affy, a rescue dog from Greece, whose boundless energy had an immediate impact.

She said: “Knowing that I was going to be on the planet a bit longer, I felt that I could finally start planning to live my life.

“I knew I could rescue a dog and they could have the best life.”

At first enjoying casual walks together in the stunning countryside, these quickly accelerated to runs and, eventually, into fully blown races up mountains in gruelling conditions.

Hannah, who trained for 15 hours every week, said: “I was walking and hiking so much and, over time, I started running.

“Then I realised I could maybe do some races.”

Finally finding peace, feeling unencumbered in the mountains, Hannah was truly happy.

She said: “The negative talk, the worry, the anxiety when you’re struggling as a teenager is such a loud and all-encompassing feeling. It’s so difficult.

“Every new friendship or relationship I have, I need to have a conversation about how long I’ll be around.

“But since I got Affy and started running,  I’m so at peace with it.”

She added: “When there’s rain on my face and I’m looking out from a hill, I find it peaceful. I find my life peaceful.”

Inheriting her love of running from her dad, Ian, who used to train for marathons when he was younger, she says he was at every checkpoint during her first endurance race, a 40-mile run in the Surrey hills in 2019.

And she says he was the proudest he had ever been of her.

She said: “I did a couple of small 30 mile races, but the first one I really trained for was a 40 mile cystic fibrosis great strides event in the Surrey hills in 2019.

“My dad was there at all the checkpoints. When I was a young child, my dad was a really good marathon runner, so endurance sport is in my genes.

“My dad and I have a really deeply ingrained connection with endurance racing and he now does endurance biking.”

She added: “I think it’s really nice for him to see me do it as well.”

In 2019, Hannah entered nine more competitions including the Lakeland 50, one of the most famous trail runs which is held in the Lake District each year, as well as the Ultra-trail Cape Town, a 40-mile race in South Africa.

Now the “healthiest” she’s ever been, Hannah, who against all odds has not been in hospital for seven years, is looking to buy a house with her boyfriend, Gareth, which is something she never thought she would do.

She said: “I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been, my lung function is up to 95 per cent, I am in a relationship, I’m running.

“The way I measure success is by how I feel, and I feel really good.

“I feel strong enough in my body that if I wanted to go and run 40k in the hills right at this moment, I could.”

She added: “I’m looking around my house now. I have a job I love, I have the best dog and I’m in a relationship where I’m really happy.

“I don’t think life needs to be more complicated than that. And I never thought I’d be this content.

“If you asked me where I’d be when I was approaching 30, this isn’t what I thought it would turn out like. This is much, much better than anything I expected.”