Great Strides

I've just registered to walk the Great Strides: Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis walk on May 5, 2007.

As some of you may know, my brother was born with CF and 4 years ago on Halloween, he had surgery for a double lung transplant. That's right, they took the lungs he was born with and replaced them with someone else's. It's an amazing procedure.

At 14, my brother was considered middle-aged for a person with CF. Before the transplant, at 17, my brother's health was rapidly declining. He was on oxygen all the time, and not just a little O2, but A LOT. We put a fridge in his room because he was too weak to walk to the main refrigerator... in the next room. He used a feeding tube every night to pump 1200 calories into him so he could gain weight. One of his larger health accomplishments was breaking 100 lbs when he was 16.

My brother was fortunate enough to receive lungs at 17. Since that time he's gotten his GED, his drivers license, and attended college. While this disease is not well known to most people, it's been a part of my life since I was three. The CF foundation does great things for CF research. Please help support me by going here and making a donation.