Tiffany Senter has lived her entire life balancing between fragility and fierce determination. At only twenty-five, she has already faced more medical battles than most will in a lifetime. Born with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that clogs the lungs and drains the body, she has survived not one but two double lung transplants. Her story is stitched together with scars, hope, and the quiet strength of someone who refuses to be defined by her illness.
Through Cystic Fibrosis, Tiffany has learned that sickness can be isolating in ways that words rarely capture. There are moments when the world feels impossibly small, just her, the hum of oxygen tubes, and the sterile quiet of hospital walls. Yet, even in that loneliness, she’s found connection. Social media became her bridge to others who understand what it means to live every day knowing the next breath is never guaranteed. Online, she met people like her, fighters who live between pain and gratitude.
The Cystic Fibrosis community became her second family. They are warriors who speak the same unspoken language of hospital rooms and lab results, people who understand that each day of breath is a blessing. Some of them are gone now, taken too soon by a disease that shows little mercy. Tiffany has learned to grieve in waves, numb at times, aching at others, always aware that her friends’ battles mirror her own. Each loss is a reminder that time is precious, that every heartbeat counts.
When Tiffany was waiting for her second double lung transplant, something unexpected gave her a spark of joy. Makeup. It started with a YouTube tutorial, and just a few minutes of distraction became hours of fascination. While tethered to oxygen and feeding tubes, she experimented with colors, brushes, and shimmer. Soon, boxes of cosmetics started arriving at her door. She laughed at how the delivery guy must have wondered what was happening, but it was magic for her. It was something she could do from her bed, within the length of her oxygen tubing, a way to create beauty even when her body was breaking.
Makeup became more than a hobby. It became her armor. Each morning, when she sat in front of the mirror and brushed on foundation, blended eyeshadow, and added the finishing touch of highlighter, she wasn’t hiding her illness; she was reclaiming her reflection. Living with Cystic Fibrosis means carrying visible reminders of struggle—swollen eyes, pale skin, dark circles carved by sleepless nights—but with makeup, she could paint herself back to life. It wasn’t vanity. It was defiance.
As Tiffany faced end-stage lung disease, she still showed up for appointments, tests, and long hospital stays. Her body was exhausted, yet her spirit stayed curious. She found calm in creativity, blending colors while nurses checked her vitals, learning the art of transformation even as her own body demanded so much care. Each stroke of eyeliner reminded her she was still here, still vibrant, still in control of something.
For Tiffany, beauty is not about perfection. It’s about resilience. Makeup doesn’t erase her pain or fear, but it gives her a way to face it. It’s her reminder that illness can shape a person, but it doesn’t have to define them. She doesn’t wear makeup because she’s ashamed of her disease, but because she’s entitled to see herself beyond it. Behind every bold lip color and shimmering highlight is a woman determined to live fully, not as a patient, but as a person. Through her story, Tiffany hopes others will see that Cystic Fibrosis, or any illness, is only part of who someone is. She wants people to find their own kind of therapy-art, music, writing, or a perfectly winged eyeliner. Self-care, she believes, is not selfish; it’s survival. The pause reminds us we are still human, capable of beauty even in the most challenging moments.
Tiffany’s life is a portrait painted with strength and softness. She may live with Cystic Fibrosis, but she also lives with joy, courage, and color. And when she looks in the mirror, she doesn’t just see a sick girl with scars. She sees a fighter who turned her pain into art, her struggle into style, and her illness into a story of fierce, unbreakable grace.
