She has never felt sick, never wanted to be someone who first thinks of the broken lung. That's why the actress Miriam Maertens decided to live as if she were healthy. She wants to be like all children, not miss a thing, participate everywhere, even go on a school trip. She does not understand her mother's conspicuous concern. She feels physically weak, but never ill. And she can assert herself because her brother comes with her, pats her back and inhales with her. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of school because she wanted to go to the theatre - like her father and her two older brothers. Only a few know that Miriam Maertens inhales before every performance and in the breaks in order not to be breathless on stage. In her early thirties she becomes pregnant against the advice of the doctors. Only when she can barely breathe is she ready to be put on the list for a donor organ. It takes a lot of strength and even more courage to go her own way so unswervingly - but life is always worth it.