As Mr Brooks celebrates his 60^th birthday, he joins a very small percentage of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) to have lived that long.

"When I was born they told my mum to take me home, and bring me back to hospital to die when I got worse," he said. "But then she found this other doctor who put me on some antibiotics, and he thought I'd live until I was about three. Then when I got to three, they said I might make it to five, then 10."

When he got to 15, he stopped paying attention to the predictions. Each day was a gift. Despite having a "severe form" of the disease, life was for living. He "went bush" with his brothers. He surfed. He rode bikes.

"It has been a hard road though," he said. "I've had lots of pitfalls, had a lot of hard days, and met lots of nurses and doctors in different hospitals. I have lost so many friends with CF along the way. I can't recall how many over the years."

CF affects the lungs and digestive system. There is no cure, and the current life expectancy is 37.

"Because I have lived so long I now have normal person's diseases - like bowel cancer," he said. "They've found some spots on my liver now. It's not going to get me.

"I have too much to live for. I want to see my grandkids grow up."

Mr Brooks said living each day as if it was your last - especially as a kid - had one drawback.

"I never finished year six," he said. "I thought, what's the use of learning to read and write and all this stuff if I'm not going to live that long.

"Now I go, 'Oh boy, was I nuts'."

University of Newcastle Conjoint Professor Peter Wark, the director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at the John Hunter Hospital, was among the guests who celebrated Mr Brooks' milestone at a party at HMRI.

"For males with CF, only 1 per cent of the population are aged over 60, according to the Australian Data Registry," Professor Wark said. "Over 50, it's only about 4 per cent. There are different genetic abnormalities that can cause CF, and some of them do cause more severe disease than others, and James certainly has a genetic mutation that causes very severe disease. And he was born 60 years ago, when the median life expectancy would have been much lower. He has done exceptionally well."

Professor Wark said CF was the most common life-limiting genetic disease in the Australian population.

"There are over 200 people in the Hunter Region living with cystic fibrosis. And attending the clinic here," he said.

"We are in an exciting time with the potential for new treatments. There is a lot of activity and interest.

"Unfortunately we still have a lot of serious illness. We have a lot of people in hospital at the moment, being the middle of winter, with very serious chest infections. And people with CF still face enormous barriers by having this chronic disease - severe limitations to their life, and the need to come into hospital for intravenous antibiotics. All of these things are a major challenge for them."

At the party, Mr Brooks was grateful to be presented with two tickets to go on an all-day deep sea fishing charter with his son. It was the first "wish" granted by the Newcastle Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The foundation's Katrina Wark said many people with CF were unable to work and were in and out of hospital, but while children could access programs like "Make a Wish" to tick off bucket list items - there was nothing available for adults.

"We decided to start granting wishes to help these adults do something they may not have been able to do otherwise," she said. "We are hoping some local businesses will come on board too."

Mrs Wark said mental health often had a big impact on CF patients.

Having so much therapy, and so many hospital visits, from the moment they were born could become daunting.

Despite advances in CF treatments, the road to recovery after each illness could seem insurmountable.

"We want to give them something to encourage them to keep going," Mrs Wark said.

"The sky is the limit. We are going to start granting wishes in the Hunter to start with, but we would like to grow it and roll it out nationally eventually.

"A lot of these patients can't work - some can work incidentally, some are working full time - it depends on how badly they are affected. Some are in and out of hospital.

"Now they can apply for a wish and we'll have so many per year to give out so they can tick something off their bucket list they may not have been able to do themselves."

To support the cause, contact the Newcastle Cystic Fibrosis Foundation via Facebook.

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