For almost two decades, our family’s mission has been steadfast in raising awareness and funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Whether it was a Great Strides walk or Shamrockin’ for a Cure, advocating to lawmakers or sharing our story throughout our community, we have been determined and relentless in our goal for Brady to have a life free from the burden of cystic fibrosis.

Many know that for the first half of Brady’s life, our time consisted of countless hospital stays, IVs, surgeries, lung infections, feeding tubes, and more medications than we could count. In those early years, it was often difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Brady was sick so much of the time. However, if you met him, you would see a happy, energetic kid with a huge zest for life. What you wouldn’t see is the invisible battle happening inside his body every single day. You wouldn’t see the worry we, as parents, would carry with us day in and day out, clinging to the hope that research would provide treatments and medications that could lessen the burden of this disease.

At age 12, Brady became eligible for a groundbreaking modulator therapy called Trikafta. The impact was extraordinary. His health improved dramatically, and for the first time, we could truly see what life might look like beyond simply managing the disease.

That progress did not happen by chance. It happened because of research put forth by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Research that was funded through your donations. Your support of Team O’Connell for all these years made this possible.
However, despite the tremendous advancements and treatments that have completely changed Brady’s life, the worry never goes away. Keeping Brady as healthy as possible is still a daily responsibility. As he gets older, cystic fibrosis will present new challenges as it is a complicated disease that affects so many organs and impacts every aspect of life. There is still much more work to do and more that the CF Foundation looks to accomplish.

Right now, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is working to advance the research needed to deliver gene editing therapies, expanding its research into the long-term effects of modulators, like Trikafta, and accelerating research and trials for complications related to aging in CF. All of which will directly benefit Brady and our CF journey.

Today, our dream is simple: that one day people will be able to say, “I used to have cystic fibrosis.” Together, we can make that dream a reality. As a family, we continue to raise awareness and funds so that more breakthroughs can be achieved and new milestones can be reached. As you can see in the photos, we are still very active with the CF Foundation and this fall, we are putting our efforts towards CF Cycle for Life, fundraising for Team O’Connell once again. We hope you will join us, in any way possible, to keep this incredible progress moving forward.

Thank you, Matt and Kellene O’Connell