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Against All Odds

Fighting chronic illness

By Dallian MacadamPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Mount Fuji at dusk

Ever since I was a child, I had always dreamed of travelling the world and experiencing various cultures. Such a dream only got bigger during my schooling years when I studied Japanese up to year 12. While there are many obstacles in my way, the biggest one is that I was born with a somewhat rare genetic disorder/chronic illness called Cystic Fibrosis which has taken a huge toll on my life, both physically and psychologically. From a young age, I was told I might not make it past my teenage years. I remember crying myself to sleep some nights because I thought I would never have a chance to chase my dreams.

Living with Cystic Fibrosis has been a constant battle between my health and maintaining hope and ambition. Knowing I might not live a full life and become a travel photographer like I aspire to be takes a huge toll on me psychologically, but I push on nonetheless in hope that I might achieve my dreams or even inspire other chronically ill people to chase their dreams. Employers don't want me due to my ongoing condition, and I found that out the hard way when I dedicated over four years to job searching, being turned away at every opportunity. Shattered, but still hopeful, I decided to put aside some money bit by bit to help fund my photography and to help me travel. I have many places on my bucket list that I want to see and capture before I leave this world, such as Venice, Florence, Paris and Nepal, but my number one place I wanted to see was Japan. I had been fascinated by the country and culture from a very young age, and after investing time into photography, I had decided that would be my first place to visit.

Somehow the stars had aligned and I was able to save enough with my partner so I could experience the beautiful country. I had multiple shots I had wanted to get, but my main one was one of Mount Fuji, and while I did get it, not all went as planned. This shot was actually very unintentional, and I was incredibly lucky to capture it. On the day my partner and I had decided to go out and view the beautiful mountain, it was covered by thick clouds and was barely visible. Being incredibly disheartened, we decided to leave and caught a bus to go back to our hotel. However, by luck, we had caught the wrong bus and it took us all the way across to the other side of the lake. By this time, the sun was well and truly beginning to set, and to make things even better, the clouds that had hidden the mountain from our eyes had disappeared, leaving us with a spectacular view. As soon as the bus stopped at the station near the lake, I wasted no time in rushing into ankle deep water to set up my tripod to capture the beautiful shot you see before you. It might be a shot you have seen a million times before, or it might be the first of its kind you've seen. But what truly makes this shot unique to me is how I went about capturing it, because to me, it was as if all the stars had aligned at the very last minute giving me such an opportunity to capture the shot I had longed to get.

I guess if you were to take anything away from this, it's that even if it seems like you are up against impossible odds, you should never give up. Always remain ambitious and never give up on hopes or your dreams. I'm still yet to fulfill my dream of travelling the world and being a travel photographer, but I'm one step closer to my dream than I was a few years ago, and I hope I have helped to inspire other chronically ill children to chase their dreams.

My name is Dallian Macadam,

Thank you for reading my story.

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About the Creator

Dallian Macadam

My name is Dallian Macadam and I am a 26 year old battling a chronic illness known as Cystic Fibrosis and who has a passion for photography. Due to my illness, I am unable to find work but I choose to keep on keeping on through photography.

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