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Isabel Stenzel Burns has said a lot of goodbyes.
In fact, she says she spent her entire life practicing the art of saying goodbye.
Everybody practices saying goodbye.
But for me, because I was born with cystic fibrosis, I went to a cystic fibrosis summer camp.
And throughout my adolescence and adulthood, I have befriended and loved my with cystic fibrosis.
And sadly, I also lost them one after the other, starting at a very young age.
Isabel dealt with a lot of loss early on, but she didn't face it alone.
Anna was my identical twin sister.
I did not know life without her for 41 years.
She was my sidekick, my soulmate, my best friend, sometimes my arch enemy, just because that's what sisters are.
And we shared a life that was very unique because of our genetic illness.
Both Anna and Isabel were born with cystic fibrosis, a progressive illness that damages the lungs and other organs.
It was a condition that put them in and out of hospitals constantly.
We both were afraid of death and how long would we live.
But we also shared a joint passion for life, knowing that our time could be limited.
We knew from an early age that one of us would die first, and we actually practiced that.