Press

Mallory Smith loved nothing more than the salt water and sea – but it was the excess salt on her skin that was a tell-tale sign of her illness.

Because she had two copies of a particular gene, Mallory suffered from cystic fibrosis.

There was a brief window of hope — lasting about six weeks — when Mallory Smith’s long-awaited double-lung transplant appeared to have been a success.

Only then did the cystic fibrosis sufferer and her mom, Diane Shader Smith, seriously discuss turning her journal into a memoir.

This week, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering will begin filming the untitled documentary that chronicles the life of Mallory Smith, who died in November 2017, two months after receiving a double-lung transplant.

In her lifetime, Mallory Smith co-authored a book, advocated for protection of the Hawaiian Islands, and wrote about her experience living with a chronic, progressive lung disease.

Mallory Smith, ’14, died on November 15, 2017, from complications after receiving a double lung transplant at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She was 25.

The age of 25, for most people, is the beginning of life, not the end. But, as anyone will tell you, Mallory Smith, class of 2010, was not most people.