Annual Fundraising for CF Research - 2017

Today I am asking for:

1) Please consider making a donation to the Tara K Telford Graduate Student Award for Cystic Fibrosis Research at UC Davis (this is where I donate every year). You can do this online from the following link. Please let me know that you have donated to this fund so I can properly thank you. I will not receive a notification that you donated.      

https://give.ucdavis.edu/GRAD/150006

                  

    or        

Consider donating to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through our Great Strides walk (our 10th year participating - will take place in San Jose on May 21) using this link (I will get a notification). You can also sign up to walk with us from this link.  http://fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/GreatStrides/98_Northern_California_San_Francisco?px=1388364&pg=personal&fr_id=5943

2)  Consider becoming an organ donor. And consider being a blood donor (I do this every few months). You can save lives.

3) If you are healthy, and I hope you are, make good choices about your body. We owe it to those who can't control their health to appreciate ours.

Here is an update from Tara - she wrote it this week (picture of her with her family is attached). A year ago, things were not looking good, but today she's home and enjoying her family!

To say we had a challenging year in this household could be an understatement.  It started off with so much hope as I got the call for my double lung transplant on January 1, 2016. What was supposed to be a 2-3 week recovery turned into months of hard work and uncertainty. I survived 5 months on life support followed by battles of viruses, lung infections, lung rejection, heart failure and now kidney failure. By my side through it all has been my family.

My donor’s name was Becky. She was 29 years old and she had an 8 year old daughter. Without her family’s selfless gift I wouldn’t be here writing to you today. Becky and her family will forever be my heroes as they saved my life this last year. 

Cystic Fibrosis still affects many parts of my body, but I am breathing clear, free of CF in my lungs. Professor Kurth and his team at UC Davis are still providing important research for Cystic Fibrosis. With your help they can continue this important research year after year.  Please consider making a donation so they can continue to fight CF. 

What is CF? 

Cystic Fibrosis is a hereditary disorder that causes the production of abnormally thick mucous that leads to blockage and severe infection of the lungs. It also affects the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down food and absorb vital nutrients. In the 1950s, children with CF rarely lived long enough to attend elementary school. Today, because of advances in research and care the median predicted age of survival is about 40.

• More than 30,000 people are living with cystic fibrosis (70,000 worldwide).
• CF causes persistent lung infections and complications to other organs.
• Some people with CF say it feels like breathing through a straw.
• About one in every 30 Americans are symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene.

THANK YOU for your continued support and donations! After the walk I'll send our donors some pictures of us walking, thanks to your support.