William O'Neal II, a poet fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a physician-scientist at the University of Iowa, has cystic fibrosis, a progressive genetic disorder that causes thick mucus to slowly drown the lungs and destroys vital organs. O’Neal's work now focuses on illness and learning how to live after a stroke took his language and mobility. He grew up knowing his early death was coming for him, but doctors put a stopwatch on his life a few years ago. His closest friends know he had cystic Fibrosis and his medical breakthrough was discovered by Dr. Mike Welsh, a pulmonologist at the Peak Peak Institute in Iowa. Welsh and Peak Peak have been working together for years to develop a new treatment for the disease.