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2013 Cycle for Life
My CF Cycle for Life Story
Following a several year Covid hiatus we’re finally back! For those of you who haven’t ridden with us before, our son Michael was diagnosed with CF when he was 20 following several recurring pneumonias and visits to the Mayo clinic to determine why conventional antibiotics weren’t working. Prior to that he was very capable physically (e.g., his U-18 soccer team won the State Championship and he was training with competitive cyclists at WSU). The last 10 years of treatment with various antibiotic cocktails and investigative drugs has taken its toll, but he has been able to complete his degree in mathematics, gotten married, now works at PNNL, and can still do moderate activity.
Cystic fibrosis affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. The symptoms can vary from person to person, and as people with CF live longer than ever before, their disease can become more complicated, leading to serious health issues. In Michael’s case, most of his current issues might have been avoided with the drugs now available as a result of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundations research and drug development work. The CFF has made extraordinary progress, not just in fostering CF treatments but also in the development of treatments for drug-resistant lung infections and complications affecting patients like Michael. The benefits of these efforts extend well beyond dealing with CF. They include such efforts as research into phage therapy, which uses viruses that attack bacteria to treat bacterial infections, and mapping out the entire genetic structure of a bacterium. This mapping can help researchers understand how certain bacteria cause disease and become drug-resistant and help them uncover ways to interrupt these disease-causing processes either with novel antibiotics or non-traditional treatments. We must keep going.
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By donating to my fundraising goal, you will help advance our mission for a cure for all. Please consider joining us and helping make CF stand for Cure Found!
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