Contact us
High contrast
This page has been translated automatically.
Basel-based Youtuber and TV presenter Adina Fahl is a cheerful soul. Yet she has suffered from a chronic illness since birth and has to be hospitalised time and again. How she experiences everyday life there goes beyond any cliché. She shows this in one of her videos.
Accompanying Adina Fahl through Ward A at UKBB is anything but quick. She has to say hello to someone at every corner. As soon as her voice echoes through the corridors, assistant doctor Lara Hess comes out of her office to give Adina a hug.
«What are you doing here?» she calls out delightedly. Then she asks anxiously: «But you're not having problems with your lungs again?» - «No, no, everything's fine,» Adina reassures her. «I'm just visiting.» And in the next moment, a carer is already waving at her.
On ward A, the UKBB cares for and treats patients with chronic illnesses, among others. This means that patients do not come and go here as they would elsewhere, but usually return again and again over a longer period of time.
Adina knows ward A as if it were her own home. She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of nine months. A disease that can be treated, but not cured.
Since her diagnosis, Adina has been in the UKBB at least twice a year for antibiotic treatment. She also has routine check-ups and visits when her illness surprises her again with acute problems. With an intestinal blockage, for example. «In such cases, I have to go to the emergency ward,» says Adina.
The regular antibiotic therapy lasts two weeks. During this time, Adina is injected intravenously with medication three times a day. «It makes you extremely tired,» says Adina. She can't do much more than lie around and recover.
In cystic fibrosis, mucus-forming glands do not function properly. This particularly affects the digestive tract and the lungs. Those affected suffer from respiratory infections and a chronic cough, among other things.
With the right treatment, a largely normal life is possible. It is inevitable that you will spend several days in hospital and have to take a lot of medication.
However, Adina is surprisingly unconcerned about all these things at the moment. She is much more concerned that she will soon never have to go to UKBB's familiar Ward A again. At almost 20 years old, she has long since become a young woman. She should therefore no longer be treated in the paediatric hospital.
The move to the university hospital, to adult medicine, will take place next March. «That will be really tough,» Adina surmises, «but I hope to meet people there who are as great as I am here.»
Adina has made numerous friends during her many stays at UKBB. «I also meet many of the nursing staff and doctors in private,» she says. And it does her good every time she is here and sees familiar faces. «We socialise together, play games and laugh.»
But the young woman is not only known by doctors and carers: «I'm always hungry and order two portions at once. When the women from patient catering see me, they bring me two meals without being asked,» says Adina with a smile on her face.
«Prof Jürg Hammer has become a second dad to me. He even makes time for me when he's on holiday,» says Adina.
One person Adina will particularly miss after her transfer to the university hospital is her attending physician. Prof Jürg Hammer has supported Adina so closely over the years that she now says: «He has become a second dad to me.» She can go to him at any time and with any concern. «He even makes time for me when he's on holiday.»
Prof Hammer has also grown fond of Adina. «I've known Adina since she was born and have seen her mature into a self-confident young woman,» he says. He is particularly impressed by how much social competence Adina has, how openly she deals with her illness and how she enjoys her life to the full despite her exemplary mindfulness. All this with a zest for life that is infectious and infectious.
«I am also always touched by the gratitude she shows to her fellow human beings who do good things for her or others,» Prof Hammer continues. There is no doubt that he will hand her over to the University Hospital next March with a tear in his eye. «But I also have a smile on my face. Because I know that she will be very well received there with her upbeat and honest manner.»
Not letting fate stop her - Adina knows very well how to do this. In her free time, she loves to dance, plays in a theatre group and doesn't shy away from the limelight. She presents «Mash», the youth magazine programme on «Telebasel», and runs her own Youtube channel. It is followed by a remarkable 4500 subscribers.
Adina now wants to use this online reach to raise awareness. «I want to show that life is not all suffering despite illness,» she explains. That's why she published a video a few days ago, which aims to take a slightly different look at hospital life. It features friends who surprise her with pizza and nursing staff who joke around with her. There is a lot of laughter. But there are also sequences in which the seriousness of her hospitalisation becomes tangible.
For Adina herself, creating the video was all about the processing process. She summarises the result as follows: «Although I also experienced moments when I wasn't feeling well at all, I was always in good hands at UKBB. This is my second family.»
We stroll around the ward together. We want to take a look at the rooms where Adina has spent so much time over the past 19 years. But we don't get that far. Adina stops abruptly at the next door. «I just want to have a quick word with the senior doctor!» And she skips away and gets caught up in the next conversation.
She vividly tells Dr Salome Hug about her theatre group. Gesticulating wildly, she tells how she received a kind of acupressure treatment from its leader and immediately felt much better. «Yes, yes,» smiles Dr Hug, «it's not just medicine that can be helpful.» Adina nods and her eyes widen. Then she suddenly glances at her watch: «Wow, I have to go to my next appointment!»
On her way out, she quickly waves and calls out to the hospital clown. «Make sure you come to my next theatre performance!» before she nimbly jumps on her bike and disappears into the dusk. A humming silence remains in the reception room.
The Medgate Kids Line provides quick and uncomplicated medical advice if your child is unwell. The medical team of our partner Medgate is available to you by telephone around the clock.
For emergencies abroad: Call the emergency number of your health insurance company. You will find this number on your health insurance card.
More information: On the Page of the emergency ward you will find everything you need to know about behaviour in emergencies, typical childhood illnesses and waiting times.
144 Outpatient clinic
145 Tox Info Suisse (Poisonings)
117 Police
118 Fire brigade
Which topic would you like to contact us about?
For praise or criticism, please use the Feedback form.
