My Great Strides Story
Teresa Schumacher
Fundraising for Hagerstown Great Strides
Teresa Schumacher
There is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis and too many people with CF die young. I’m walking to help change that reality.
CF is a genetic, life-shortening disease that devastates the lungs, pancreas, and other vital organs. CF makes it difficult to breathe and fight life-threatening infections, often leading to extensive lung damage and respiratory failure.
Every person born with cystic fibrosis is on a unique journey and experiences this challenging disease differently. While progress has been made, a long road lies ahead for far too many people fighting this terrible disease. We need a cure so that everyone with CF has a better chance to live a long, healthy life
This year I will turn 47. I am so lucky and so grateful to have a beautiful family of my own. But not everyone else is so lucky and to be honest, it hasn’t always been an easy 47 years… living every minute of every day with an unrelenting disease that loves to alter plans, steal time, twist my dreams and monopolize my world. 47 years of doctor visits, breathing tests, chest x-rays, blood draws, blood sugar testing, enzymes, acid reducers, vitamins, probiotics, antibiotics, nasal rinses and saline sprays. But only 42 years of IV antibiotics, surgeries, and hospitalizations... inhalers, nebulizers, vest treatments.
That’s right I said 42 years because in 2020 I was lucky enough to start a new drug called Trikafta. It is a drug that treats the underlying cause of Cystic Fibrosis. It’s a modulator corrects one of my genes. It is a game changer. But not everyone has is this fortunate and there are still so many out there who’s CF is still taking its toll.
Cystic Fibrosis is constant... it is a grind. When you have Cystic Fibrosis there are no treatment breaks… there is no remission… vacations away from the disease are impossible… there is NO CURE… It’s fighting, every minute… day after day… week after week… month after month. It’s exhausting…we need better treatments…we need a cure! To get either of those, WE NEED YOUR HELP.
I would love for you to join ME in support of this very important cause.
There are several ways you can help.
1) Walk with me and be a part of our fundraising walk team. Just click the "Join My Team" button on the right.
2) If you are unable to take part in the walk, we would be honored if you would sponsor Teresa’s Trailblazers with a contribution of your choice. Any amount will help us reach our goal. To make a secure, online donation, just click the "Donate to Me" at the top of this page.
3) Start a Teresa’s Trailblazers team at your local Great Strides walk. If I can start 2 more teams then Teresa’s Trailblazers will be a national team. Contact me for more information.
Any contribution you make is 100% tax deductible and the CF Foundation will use almost 91 cents of every dollar raised to find and fund A CURE. Please email me (shopgirl8878@yahoo.com) if you have any questions or need more information.
The power of the Great Strides Walk is everyone coming together in an inspiring show of nationwide grassroots fundraising to raise 43 MILLION dollars for CF. Since the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation gets no direct Federal funding it is imperative that we get support from private individuals like you. While I am uncomfortable asking for donations I have many other things I’d rather do than fundraise I no other choice but to keep doing it year after year until there are more answers and better options… until CF is a life-long disease instead of a life-shortening one. We need your help in raising the money to fund life-saving research and drug development. Please help us fund the cure so I and others like me can continue to be healthy and lead the lives we want. I can’t do this alone… we can’t do this alone.
Thank you!
Love,
Teresa
For many this is a year of CF:
1. 17 different medications
2. 1823 nebulizers
3. 375 hours of vest treatments
4. 6,935 pills swallowed
5. 1,460 injections of insulin
6. about a 1,000 finger sticks
7. 730 sinus rinses
8. 8,765 hours fighting CF; dreaming of a cure
CF is a genetic, life-shortening disease that devastates the lungs, pancreas, and other vital organs. CF makes it difficult to breathe and fight life-threatening infections, often leading to extensive lung damage and respiratory failure.
Every person born with cystic fibrosis is on a unique journey and experiences this challenging disease differently. While progress has been made, a long road lies ahead for far too many people fighting this terrible disease. We need a cure so that everyone with CF has a better chance to live a long, healthy life
This year I will turn 47. I am so lucky and so grateful to have a beautiful family of my own. But not everyone else is so lucky and to be honest, it hasn’t always been an easy 47 years… living every minute of every day with an unrelenting disease that loves to alter plans, steal time, twist my dreams and monopolize my world. 47 years of doctor visits, breathing tests, chest x-rays, blood draws, blood sugar testing, enzymes, acid reducers, vitamins, probiotics, antibiotics, nasal rinses and saline sprays. But only 42 years of IV antibiotics, surgeries, and hospitalizations... inhalers, nebulizers, vest treatments.
That’s right I said 42 years because in 2020 I was lucky enough to start a new drug called Trikafta. It is a drug that treats the underlying cause of Cystic Fibrosis. It’s a modulator corrects one of my genes. It is a game changer. But not everyone has is this fortunate and there are still so many out there who’s CF is still taking its toll.
Cystic Fibrosis is constant... it is a grind. When you have Cystic Fibrosis there are no treatment breaks… there is no remission… vacations away from the disease are impossible… there is NO CURE… It’s fighting, every minute… day after day… week after week… month after month. It’s exhausting…we need better treatments…we need a cure! To get either of those, WE NEED YOUR HELP.
I would love for you to join ME in support of this very important cause.
There are several ways you can help.
1) Walk with me and be a part of our fundraising walk team. Just click the "Join My Team" button on the right.
2) If you are unable to take part in the walk, we would be honored if you would sponsor Teresa’s Trailblazers with a contribution of your choice. Any amount will help us reach our goal. To make a secure, online donation, just click the "Donate to Me" at the top of this page.
3) Start a Teresa’s Trailblazers team at your local Great Strides walk. If I can start 2 more teams then Teresa’s Trailblazers will be a national team. Contact me for more information.
Any contribution you make is 100% tax deductible and the CF Foundation will use almost 91 cents of every dollar raised to find and fund A CURE. Please email me (shopgirl8878@yahoo.com) if you have any questions or need more information.
The power of the Great Strides Walk is everyone coming together in an inspiring show of nationwide grassroots fundraising to raise 43 MILLION dollars for CF. Since the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation gets no direct Federal funding it is imperative that we get support from private individuals like you. While I am uncomfortable asking for donations I have many other things I’d rather do than fundraise I no other choice but to keep doing it year after year until there are more answers and better options… until CF is a life-long disease instead of a life-shortening one. We need your help in raising the money to fund life-saving research and drug development. Please help us fund the cure so I and others like me can continue to be healthy and lead the lives we want. I can’t do this alone… we can’t do this alone.
Thank you!
Love,
Teresa
For many this is a year of CF:
1. 17 different medications
2. 1823 nebulizers
3. 375 hours of vest treatments
4. 6,935 pills swallowed
5. 1,460 injections of insulin
6. about a 1,000 finger sticks
7. 730 sinus rinses
8. 8,765 hours fighting CF; dreaming of a cure
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