In a photo on Mary Asher’s Instagram account (mary.eats.stl), she smiles in a red “EAT STL” T-shirt while leaning over an injera (an Ethiopian sourdough pancake) at Meskerem restaurant on South Grand. In the next photo, she’s in a hospital bed with a breathing tube tucked behind her ears. The locales differ. Her smile remains.
Asher was born with cystic fibrosis, a progressive, inherited disease that damages the lungs and eventually limits the ability to breathe. Although she was born with the disease, her parents didn’t know that she had it until she was 2 years old. She grew up without any complications, even running cross-country and track in high school.
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It was in college that her lungs started to decline. At first, she lost the ability to exercise, and then she had her first infection. The pills that had kept infections away for so many years no longer worked, causing Asher to begin intravenous medication with a peripheral inserted central catheter (PICC line). “That was the first time I was hospitalized, and it was the first time it really sunk in that I was sick,” she says. “I think I still acted like a normal person. [The PICC line] was easy to hide with a sleeve or a cardigan.”
She also had the support of Nick, her husband of 10 years. “We had been together since we were freshmen [in college], before I was actually sick,” she says. “You know, I trapped him when I was healthy,” she adds with a laugh.
It’s this same sense of humor and optimism that Asher embodies no matter where she is, whether a hospital bed, in front of a waterfall in Iceland, or holding a box of doughnuts from Duck Donuts. Asher captured all of these moments on her Instagram account, which she began seriously curating in 2019. At that time, her lung capacity had decreased to a point where she was dependent on oxygen, so she was spending a lot of time at home. “I didn’t like to bring the oxygen out in public, so we didn’t go out to eat often,” she says. “Just walking from the curb to the front of the restaurant was exhausting.”
Sharing her story on Instagram helped Asher raise awareness about what it’s like living with cystic fibrosis. The Instagram account was something she could do at home without getting too out of breath. “It also helped highlight my journey being sick but also still being a normal person,” she says. “As my health was declining, I couldn’t travel far from home. I wanted to showcase the things I could still do.”
In May 2019, when she was listed for a lung transplant, she used the platform to help fundraise to offset the high costs of the operation. Asher received a call for new lungs less than 24 hours after she was added to the transplant list. She was already in the hospital being treated for a lung infection, so she was prepped for surgery, only to find out that the donor lungs were not suitable. It happened again in June: She received a call, felt a sense of hope, was prepped for surgery, and then found out that the lungs were infected with pneumonia.
When she received a third call on July 28, she was already in the hospital, having been admitted five days earlier for extreme shortness of breath. “I could not breathe,” she recalls. “My oxygen at home was on the highest level. I couldn’t turn it up any more, but it wasn’t enough for me to actually catch my breath. I feel like if I didn’t get lungs, then I was definitely going to die. I can say this now because I’m fine, but it was super terrifying.”
She continued to share her recovery post-transplant, but as she regained a sense of normalcy, her Instagram account morphed into a food account. She didn’t set out to have a food Instagram account—it just sort of happened. “It was just what I was doing, and I could do it safely,” she says.
When the pandemic hit, Asher realized that she could help support local businesses and restaurants. “If I can use my small platform to introduce someone to a new restaurant, maker, or new part of town, then I can make a positive impact,” she says.
There are pictures of Asher with her now shoulder-length pink hair sipping a latte at Bowood by Niche, eyeing a cocktail with a green umbrella at Mission Taco Joint, eating doughnuts at Knead Bakehouse, and dipping a calzone into balsamic ranch at Sauce on the Side. Each post shares information about the restaurant and her meal.
Asher says she’s honored when people come to her for recommendations, though she struggles to pick her favorites because there are so many great places in St. Louis. “When people message me, I’m like, ‘What kind of food do you like, or what neighborhood are you in?’” she says. For brunch, she likes Juniper and Brasserie. Her go-to lunch spots: J’s Pitaria and Balkan Treat Box. For dessert, she has a harder time picking her favorites, though she notes Clementine’s, Bijoux, Whisk, and Sugarwitch.
Through her Instagram account, she has formed relationships with local business owners and other cystic fibrosis patients, which is especially meaningful because they can’t meet up in person for fear that they might spread harmful bacteria to one another. “Making connections is what makes sharing my life fun, and collaborating with restaurants and brands has given me an even larger platform to share my love for St. Louis,” Asher says.
More than anything, she hopes that her account motivates others to live life to the fullest. “Every day could be your last day,” she says, “and you need to have fun.”
