Cystic Fibrosis Ireland (CFI ) in collaboration with photographer and person with Cystic Fibrosis (pwCF ), Trevor O’Donoghue, will host the exhibition ‘The Cost of Breathing’ in Galway’s Westside Library until the March 8 and Ballinasloe Library from the 12th to the 20th March 12-20.
The exhibition was launched at the CFI National Conference recently and embarked on a national tour which aims to highlight the societal and economic challenges that many people living with CF face, despite advancements in recent years.
Research conducted by CFI in 2025 shows the significant financial burden many people with CF and their families regularly face. Among the findings are:
• 44.9% of pwCF struggling to meet their monthly bills
• 28.1% of pwCF are unable to work due to their CF
• 30.3% of those pwCF in full time employment experience enforced deprivation
• 63.8% of pwCF receiving Disability Allowance experience enforced deprivation
Presenting the data at the CFI National Conference, Sarah Tecklenborg, CEO CFI, commented “Our research highlighted the significant financial burden many people with CF and their families face daily. Whether they are a parent who gives up work for the caring responsibilities required to keep a child with CF well, a person with CF covering the extensive costs of multiple hospital visits each year or missing education or career opportunities due to CF, there are significant lifelong financial stresses associated with CF”
Cystic Fibrosis Ireland are highlighting the enforced deprivation and emerging challenges for people with Cystic Fibrosis, despite the improvement in life experience and expectancy in recent years.
Trevor O’Donoghue of Radharc Perspective & Life Coaching, is a person with CF. He became involved in the project to strengthen awareness of the realities of living with the condition, which is sometimes referred to as a hidden disability/illness.
“Ireland is no stranger to the story of CF. The journey from being a childhood illness to the positivity that we see now, has been paved with many great advocacy and awareness initiatives. However, this exhibition tells an untold part of that story and asks what it feels like to survive in a system where everything has a cost, even the breath in your lungs,” O’Donoghue explains.
“I created seven pieces which were first shown at the online exhibition in October. Each one is embedded in a different emotion, illustrated with a different colour and highlights the very real issues of life with CF. These are based on first-hand, lived experiences, but also second and third hand experiences, through discussions with my partner, who also lives with an illness, and others in the CF community in Ireland.”
Tecklenborg continues, “We are incredibly proud to be working with Trevor. ‘The Cost of Breathing’ is not a comfortable story, but it is one told with hope. Trevor confronts the pervasiveness of social and economic poverty yet shares the positivity of his story. Libraries are a wonderful public amenity and we would like to thank Galway Libraries for featuring the exhibition. We invite everyone to visit the exhibition and join us on the journey to highlight and address these uneasy truths.”
The exhibition will be available for public viewing in multiple locations around Ireland until June 2026. The virtual gallery was launched online in October 2025 and is available at https://www.cfireland.ie/support-resources/members-events/the-cost-of-breathing.
