Jean Hess

As many of you know, our daughter Katelyn has Cystic Fibrosis. Katelyn was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at 2 months old. On Friday, May 10th, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will be hosting the annual Great Strides walk for cystic fibrosis in Rock Hill at Cherry Park. This year is Team Katelyn’s 12th year walking and invite you to join us for this annual event.

What is Cystic Fibrosis you ask? Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States. In the early 1950s, children born with CF died early in childhood. Today, thanks to improved medical treatments, people with CF are living long and relatively normal lives. We have learned over this last year that CF affects everyone differently and therefore there is not one specific definition for the symptoms or how each person will be affected by the disease. People with CF produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus, which can clog the lungs and lead to recurring lung and sinus infections. Due to this thick mucus, many with CF also have pancreatic involvement where the digestive enzymes needed to absorb nutrients in food cannot get out of the pancreas. We have daily routine treatments that Katelyn does to treat these symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis. This routine includes daily medication (about 20 pills a day), and 2 vest treatments that squeeze and vibrate her chest with a nebulizer medication.

Breakthrough treatments because of the CFF, including the medicine Katelyn takes, have added years to the lives of people with cystic fibrosis. Today the median predicted survival age is close to 40. This is a dramatic improvement from the 1950s when a child with CF rarely lived long enough to attend elementary school. While there has been significant progress in treating this disease, there is still no cure, and too many lives are cut far too short.

We humbly thank you for your support. Our wish is that one day, CF stands for “Cure Found”. Please help us add more tomorrow for those with CF by making a donation to Team Katelyn by following the link to my page at the bottom of this e-mail.

Thank you,

Jean, Preston, and Katelyn Hess