Laura Gordon
Hello and thank you for visiting our Team Feets page. I hope you will take a moment to ready our message below.
Spring is here and that means the Annapolis Great Strides Walk is right around the corner. With it comes a very special day. Every year on the first Saturday of June, we gather with our friends and family (Team Feets) and we help change the future for our son Austin and all those who battle cystic fibrosis. If this is your first year supporting our fight for a CURE or your 25th, we hope that you will join us at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium on June 7th.
This time last year we didn’t know how sick Austin was. We didn’t realize the severity of the infection raging in his lungs and the mental health toll that cystic fibrosis was taking. He joined us at the walk and if you were there you saw it too; he didn’t have the energy to walk more than 200 feet without resting. Austin was struggling.
On June 26th he was admitted to Cleveland Clinic. Upon his admission, we received a call from the CF team. Not since the day he was diagnosed had we been so scared for our boy. There were many tears and we feared the damage done to those fragile lungs. There was one critical thing that changed the course of those three weeks and probably his life… Austin chose to FIGHT!!
After three days when he was strong enough to walk, Austin, his oxygen tank and his IV pole started to do short laps. When the oxygen tank went away the laps got longer and longer. By July 3rd he could walk 1.5 miles. Then he increased it to two walks a day. After two weeks, stair workouts were added. By July 15th he could walk 1.5 miles and do 10 flights of stairs in 40 minutes. He was putting in the work. On July 16th he was discharged. A great day!
We had planned a trip to Montana last summer but helping Austin to continue to get healthier and stronger was the priority. The four of us stayed at the beautiful Muriano Resort on 30A and spent hours a day floating in the Gulf. The salt air helped clear even more of the junk out of his lungs. By the end of the summer Austin was feeling like himself again and his weight was almost at baseline. To this day, his lung function continues to climb little by little and he monitors it weekly with a home testing device.
I didn’t plan to share this personal story and I asked Austin’s permission to do so. But I really want you all to see that cystic fibrosis is a constant battle. Austin fights for his life every day. He wakes up to 2 nebulizers and 30 minutes of chest percussion vest and goes to bed at night after at least 2 nebulizers and another 30 minutes of the vest. During the day there is work, exercise, and additional treatments. But there is also life, friends, and memories being made. It’s that last part that drives us.
Our dream is the same one that all parents have for their children, that our child can live the life of his dreams.
This is the part where you all come in. There is no life changing treatment for Austin… yet. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is leading the charge toward transformative therapies and a CURE for all. The first treatment that could make a difference for Austin is most likely a re-dosable, inhaled MRNA. Genetic therapies will be a game changer and they will eventually lead to the CURE. There are many different genetic therapies in the CF Foundation’s drug development pipeline. They are extremely costly to develop and not all will succeed. But some will!
When Team Feets gathers on walk day, we love to take a minute to thank everyone that has supported us over the years. Our team is helping to fund the science that will give Austin more time to make memories. We do not know when the CURE will be here, but we do know that every dollar gets us one step closer to a CURE and for that we are so grateful.
We hope you will consider supporting our dream for Austin with a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Thank you all- your support means more than you can imagine.
Until CF Stands for Cure Found,
Until CF Stands for Cure Found,
Steve, Laura, Austin and Kate
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