NICOLE M. ZELLER
Writer. Podcaster. Designer. The one who didn’t quit.
0.00122%
Only 0.00122% of Canadians have cystic fibrosis.
I am one of them. This is what I built anyway.
THE BODY THAT FIGHTS BACK
I was born with cystic fibrosis — a progressive, life-shortening lung disease — and cystic fibrosis-related diabetes that requires daily injections. At 25% lung function, I completed the CrossFit Open on camera for a Telus TV documentary. I placed near-last. I showed up anyway. That’s the whole story, really.
THE GYM
In 2016, I founded Chinook CrossFit from scratch — no safety net. I built a community, ran it for five years, and sold it in 2021. It was never about fitness. It was about proving that a body the world had written off could still build something.
THE CAUSE
In 2005, I founded the Summit Foundation for Cystic Fibrosis. By the time I stepped back, we had raised $3.5 million for cystic fibrosis research. In 2014, I received the Doc Seaman Individual Philanthropist Award. The University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine named a research lab in my honour. I funded the science that may outlive me.
THE DEGREES
Two degrees and two professional certificates — all from the University of Calgary. The certificates, in Graphic Design and Integrated Digital Media, were both completed with distinction and a 4.0 GPA. I was the oldest person in most of my classes. I was also the most certain about why I was there.
THE PLATFORM
Now I write. I podcast. I design. Coke on the Rocks is where I put everything I’ve learned about living an undiluted life — the dark humour, the hard-won philosophy, the refusal to perform wellness I don’t feel. It’s not a brand. It’s a record.
“I didn’t survive this much to play it small.”
THE RITUAL
Every morning. Forty-plus years. Non-negotiable.
A glass of Coke. On the rocks. In a wine glass.
Yes, I know. I have cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. My entire life is militarily structured to keep me alive — the injections, the medications, the regimen, the discipline. The Coke is the one thing I do purely because I want to. I feel entirely entitled to one bad thing, given everything else I’ve surrendered to staying alive. I told my doctors they had to let me keep the drink — because if they took it away, I was going for the powder.
That’s what this site is named for. Not the drink. The refusal to dilute.