Join Sarah's team and help add tomorrows!
From the looks of it, Sarah is just a normal 12 year old girl. She likes to laugh, play and have fun. She is in 7th grade this year and is on her school’s cheerleading squad. She loves to be goofy and spend time with friends. Underneath all of that, a disease called Cystic Fibrosis (CF) that wreaks havoc on her little body.
She was born with CF and lived with the symptoms for almost 7 months before she was diagnosed with it on February 8, 2012. The diagnosis came after months of extensive testing and multiple doctors deliberating over her case.
Cystic Fibrosis is a very serious, life threatening and debilitating disease that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system. It affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat and digestive juices. These secreted fluids are normally thin and slippery. But in cystic fibrosis, a defective gene causes the secretions to become thick and sticky. Instead of acting as a lubricant, the secretions plug up tubes, ducts and passageways, especially in the lungs and pancreas.
Since being diagnosed, her life has changed drastically. She has a daily regimen of chest physiotherapy, which means she uses a vest that shakes her whole body for up to 30 minutes to break up mucus in her lungs twice a day, and nebulizer treatments that last between 25 minutes- 1.5 hours long that she also do twice a day. When she gets sick with a cold or other respiratory illness she has to do them a lot more than that. Also, before she eats anything she has to take enzyme pills that help her body to absorb the nutrients from her food since CF doesn't allow her pancreas to work normally.
Sarah most wants to be just like everyone else and not have to spend hrs doing treatments and weeks in the hosptial. You can help by donating to help find her a cure.
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IMPORTANT NOTE ON ATTENDANCE AT FOUNDATION EVENTS:
Updated July 5th, 2023
The CF Foundation is committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of individuals attending Foundation events. Individuals attending CF Foundation events must abide by the Foundation's Event Attendance Policy www.cff.org/attendancepolicy, which includes guidance for event attendees living with cystic fibrosis.