It takes lungs and heart to say Mary Fouse's story. Originally published in Missoula Valley Lifestyle. In moments of worry, panic, fear, or sadness, gulps of oxygen provide physical sustenance—a calm, a slowing, a reminder to restore balance. Mary Fouse, owner of Just Breathe Massage Therapy, encourages her patients to focus on that life-giving breath. We compartmentalize. Mary knows, on multiple levels, the importance of life-sustaining breath: she was born with cystic fibrosis. Taking care of her body has never been an afterthought, making her career path a natural fit.
After high school, she pursued her life-long dream of becoming a massage therapist, starting her own practice by age But the grueling schedule took its toll. When she arrived in Seattle that fall, she only weighed 82 pounds. Her lungs were operating at 25 percent capacity.
She returned to Missoula with a new lease on life and a fresh passion for helping others, starting Just Breathe a year after her transplant surgery.
Many of her patients have their own share of medical challenges. Mary knows, intimately, the rigor of caring for a body that requires precise care. She takes 15 pills a day. She exercises religiously. There are no days off with a terminal illness. And then, much like the cold virus that triggered the string of illnesses leading to the need for a lung transplant, Mary hit another health speed bump.
Hopefully you get a little piece of each part of the pie every day. Mary has always set out to accomplish goals. But Mary said her choice was to continue down the path of restrictions and shallow breaths or to take a chance on her health and her dreams: whether post-transplant or post-heart attack.
