Is "5 feet Apart" 5 Feet Too Close?

Post created by Anna

The movie Five Feet Apart traces the story of Stella Grant, a vlogger who has cystic fibrosis (CF), a respiratory condition where the mucous in her lungs is thick and clogs her airways.

Like many of us know now, people need to be six feet apart to avoid spreading germs from person to person. This is extremely important for CF patients because when they get sick, it can be deadly. Luckily, Stella is a bit of a goody-two shoes, and she strictly follows her regimen. 

However, one day, she meets a boy named Will who also has CF...but he doesn’t follow his regime. In fact, he doesn’t follow hardly any of the rules set in place to help him get better which drives Stella completely insane.

After her initial dislike, Stella manages to convince Will to be accountability partners for their CF regimens. And before too long, the two young patients start developing feelings for each other. Despite their growing affections, they still need to remain at least six feet apart. But because of Will’s charm and bad boy behavior, he convinces Stella to compromise her six feet for five feet apart. 

Unfortunately, five feet apart ended up being five feet too close. After losing her best friend to CF, Stella is ashamed that she was never allowed to hug him and say goodbye. Blinded by grief, Stella drags Will out of the hospital and into the night to watch the lights. As the two walk hand and hand on top of a frozen lake, Stella ignores the message that she has received a lung transplant. 

The movie ends with Will walking away from Stella after convincing her to take the transplant.

Though this movie is primarily a teen romance, it does bring awareness to the struggles of cystic fibrosis patients. 

It accurately shows some of the symptoms that come with CF including the thick mucus that gets trapped in their lungs. One of the therapies is wearing a jacket that vibrates which is supposed to dislodge the mucus so that the patient can cough it up. This frees the bronchioles and bronchi so that air can move more freely and the patient has better breathing. 

This connects directly with what we learned about the respiratory system. Our lungs protect and cover a large network of bronchioles which help us exchange gases so that we can breath. When those bronchioles get clogged or blocked, it lowers the amount of gas exchange we are able to do. And that means that our bodies don’t get enough oxygen to continue functioning properly. People with CF slowly lose their ability to breathe, and eventually they die from their condition. Luckily new treatments and therapies are being created to lengthen their lifespans, but it still manages to take people’s lives far too soon.