But with pulmonary fibrosis, patients lose that despite the best medical efforts.
That outcome is on the verge of change.
"I tripped over my dog taking him outside," recalls Elena Gray.
That fluke accident led Elena Gray to a life-changing diagnosis.
"When I went and got an x-ray for my clavicle, the lung showed signs of a problem," she continues.
The problem was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF.
In IPF, lungs become stiff, making breathing harder and harder.
Elena knows about IPF - she lost her mother to it.
"She was a strong lady, but it was too much for her," she notes.
Pulmonologist Dr. Rachel Criner of Temple Health says IPF has been a serious challenge.
"There is no cure, there is no medication to reverse it. There's no medication to improve it," she explains.
Ofev and Esbriet - the two medications specifically for IPF - only slow the advance.
But Dr. Criner says the outlook is changing.
"A year ago, we at Temple only had 1 trial that we were doing," she says, adding, "Now we have actually 10 active trials and 8 more trials down the road."
"Some are pills, some are nebulizers - airway therapy. Some are injections," she says.
All can be taken alongside current drugs.
And Fibroneer, a drug tested at Temple last year, showed it can actually improve breathing.
So it will go to the FDA for approval early next year.
Elena, who recently started her 2nd clinical trial, says the frequent checks reassure her.
"They're right on top of it all the time. You get everything in your patient portal. So you always know what's going on," she explains.
And the clinical trials are available at Temple Health in Oaks, as well as Broad Street.
Dr. Criner says this is an exciting time for doctors treating IPF.
"We've just identified so many novel targets that we think we could actually reverse the disease," she says.
Elena says support from her family and friends is important as she battles IPF.
But so is helping find new solutions to it.
"If anybody can get into a clinical trial for whatever reason, they should definitely look into it," she says wholeheartedly.
Dr. Criner says IPF is now the leading reason for lung transplants. She hopes the new drugs will change that.