My Great Strides Story
William Odette
Fundraising for St. Peter Great Strides
William Odette
In 1938 cystic fibrosis was first identified and described by Doctor Dorothy Anderson. She observed characteristic features in children who had died from malnutrition and noted a pattern of thickened mucus in the pancreas and other organs. At this time, if your child was diagnosed, you were told “Keep them comfortable, they will be dead around age 3.”
CF IN A NUTSHELL: CF basically causes your body to be unable to regulate salt correctly. The lack of salt in organs means a lack of water. A lack of water means the mucus around your pancreas and your lungs gets thick and sticky. This results in your pancreas being unable to secrete enzymes needed to break down food and absorb the nutrition. With the lungs, they are prone to infection because the bacteria get stuck in an ideal environment to rapidly multiply.
In 1955, ALMOST 20 YEARS after Doc Dorothy began telling people what was up, people born with CF weren’t expected to live long enough to attend elementary school. Because of the determination and power of a bunch of pissed off parents (we can do anything, haha), helpful sponsors, and generous people from all walks of life, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was established!
Life expectancy doubled 5 years later, to about 10 years old.
Over the next 30 years, it increased about 20 MORE YEARS!
In 1989 the CF gene was discovered (game changer) through means of the foundation, and they’ve been absolutely crushing it making leaps and bounds ever since.
No foundation on the planet has done more as far as research, development, developing processes for said research and development, laying the groundwork and helping implement strategies for managing, treating, and curing ALL genetic diseases across the board than the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has.
Purely statistically speaking here, as I do not accept this; Today, Ivy’s life expectancy is roughly 61 years. That’s not good enough for me, or any other parents that I’ve met. So, we’re still pretty fired up over here, to say the least.
Today, respiratory failure is the leading cause of death in people with CF due to chronic lung infections, inflammation, fibrosis (scarring), and other complications as time goes on. Certain treatments and medications don't work with certain patients, so we've got to get these numbers up, people!!!
Today, we're making fucking strides, ladies and gentlemen! We're fighting until it's done! Until CF stand for Cure Found! We're adding tomorrows! We're making the strong stronger! We're doing whatever other catchy catch phrases you want to use, haha, but it's REAL, and it's POWERFUL, and it's actively happening TODAY.
LET'S KEEP GOING!!!
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is stronger than ever and doing truly incredible things pretty much on a weekly basis if you follow the news. The cure is right around the corner for a vast majority of patients thanks to people just like your beautiful self. It’s so close, we can almost taste it! $5 might be the ticket to changing millions of people's lives, you never know.
Do what you have the power to do. It may be more powerful than you ever thought it could be.
For the high rollers and/or tax savvy: Donations are tax deductible, and a receipt is provided for any amount through email or post.
CF IN A NUTSHELL: CF basically causes your body to be unable to regulate salt correctly. The lack of salt in organs means a lack of water. A lack of water means the mucus around your pancreas and your lungs gets thick and sticky. This results in your pancreas being unable to secrete enzymes needed to break down food and absorb the nutrition. With the lungs, they are prone to infection because the bacteria get stuck in an ideal environment to rapidly multiply.
In 1955, ALMOST 20 YEARS after Doc Dorothy began telling people what was up, people born with CF weren’t expected to live long enough to attend elementary school. Because of the determination and power of a bunch of pissed off parents (we can do anything, haha), helpful sponsors, and generous people from all walks of life, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was established!
Life expectancy doubled 5 years later, to about 10 years old.
Over the next 30 years, it increased about 20 MORE YEARS!
In 1989 the CF gene was discovered (game changer) through means of the foundation, and they’ve been absolutely crushing it making leaps and bounds ever since.
No foundation on the planet has done more as far as research, development, developing processes for said research and development, laying the groundwork and helping implement strategies for managing, treating, and curing ALL genetic diseases across the board than the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has.
Purely statistically speaking here, as I do not accept this; Today, Ivy’s life expectancy is roughly 61 years. That’s not good enough for me, or any other parents that I’ve met. So, we’re still pretty fired up over here, to say the least.
Today, respiratory failure is the leading cause of death in people with CF due to chronic lung infections, inflammation, fibrosis (scarring), and other complications as time goes on. Certain treatments and medications don't work with certain patients, so we've got to get these numbers up, people!!!
Today, we're making fucking strides, ladies and gentlemen! We're fighting until it's done! Until CF stand for Cure Found! We're adding tomorrows! We're making the strong stronger! We're doing whatever other catchy catch phrases you want to use, haha, but it's REAL, and it's POWERFUL, and it's actively happening TODAY.
LET'S KEEP GOING!!!
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is stronger than ever and doing truly incredible things pretty much on a weekly basis if you follow the news. The cure is right around the corner for a vast majority of patients thanks to people just like your beautiful self. It’s so close, we can almost taste it! $5 might be the ticket to changing millions of people's lives, you never know.
Do what you have the power to do. It may be more powerful than you ever thought it could be.
For the high rollers and/or tax savvy: Donations are tax deductible, and a receipt is provided for any amount through email or post.
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