Robyn Stanley

For anyone that doesn’t know, Harrison was born with a disease called Cystic Fibrosis (CF).  CF is a progressive, genetic disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. While Harrison knows that he has CF, he doesn’t fully understand how serious the disease is because he is only 9. He knows he does a lot of extra things to keep him healthy that others don’t do. To give you a glimpse of his daily life: He does a vest twice a day for 30 min each to shake the mucous in his lungs, he does a nebulizer medication once a day to thin the mucous in his lungs. He has to take pancreatic enzymes before he eats anything, otherwise he will not absorb any of the nutrients he consumes. He also has a feeding tube in his belly to give him special formula at night. I only tell you this because just looking at him, you would never know. He is a happy kid and all of this is just normal to him. 

There are approximately 30,000 Americans living with cystic fibrosis. They are moms, dads, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, and friends who struggle every day just to breathe. 

Real progress has been made for those who have CF, but there is still no cure for this devastating disease and many lives are cut far too short. We’ve come so far, but there’s still so much work to do. I will not stop striding until all those with cystic fibrosis have a cure. We will not leave anyone behind.