Shelby Luebbert

Hi everyone! And welcome to my page of GT’s Pit Crew!

We were formerly known as GT’s Mafia, but with the wanted change of making it more kid friendly (so they can rep their shirts at school!) and the addition of morphing to a virtual ‘rides’ edition last year instead of our normal walk… we wanted to change things up at the perfect time! And not to mention… We should have probably done this from the beginning with how big of a car family we are!

For those that know me, and those just tuning in for the first time, our leader is me… Shelby Luebbert! We got the name from a friend of mine who referred to me as GT, or GT500 like the car, Shelby Mustang. I am a 30-year-old cf’er from Saint Louis, MO. I was born with two of the rarer types of mutations when it comes to CF (There are now over 1,700 documented mutations!), and diagnosed right around my first birthday. My parents actually passed the carrier test but were in a ‘gray’ area they told them! Growing up, I was pretty healthy, but once I hit my late teen years into my 20’s… things took a huge turn for the worse. We finally found out the name of my second mutation right before my 20th birthday. Multitudes of hospitalizations have taken over my life this past decade, along with placement of a g-tube to help nutrition, lung function plummeting, the addition of autoimmune issues coming into play, and finally finding out celiac disease was having a hand in things as well. I was also evaluated for a lung transplant in July of 2020 to start getting on their radar since I have so many other components to my health, but thankfully we have found some things to stabilize me.

Last year we celebrated a little milestone for me; I get to hit the amazing feat of hitting 30! Knowing how scary things have been over the past few years… seeing this number gives me a sigh of relief. I know I am no where out of the woods yet, but a bit of this is bittersweet in a way, along with a punch to my gut since I know so many of my fellow CF friends have not always made it this far. It has been a huge push in my life to keep the fire going for them. I made some promises to a couple of special people in my life as their health deteriorated, and I refuse to ever give that up. I literally live for them and their memory. Your donations literally help keep the research and progress going within the Cystic Fibrosis community. Without you, we would have never made it this far!

These past couple of years have also been filled with heartbreak, sadness, and a ton of built-up anxiousness. I have basically stayed quarantined due to my health and not wanting to rock the boat. I really hope that we can congregate safely, and that you will join us. It's been far too long since we have seen many of you.. We are a huge car family since my dad has restored cars basically all his life, and always have been in the family generations past… So, I invite you to come join our 'pit crew' as we continue this theme. Your support means more than you could ever know; it truly helps continue this fire that I have ignited within me.. and any way you can support (even by just sharing!) helps continue this much needed awareness that thousands so badly need!

Save the date: May 7th, 2022

We will be there about 9am! I will update closer to the event.

Where: UMSL Student Millenium Center parking lot

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I also want to add that:

We are planning to also attend the Metro East walk

 May 15th (the following Sunday!), being held at SIUE Campus 

in case you want to attend that one with us.

I cannot sign up jointly to it, BUT if you are interested,

we plan to attend that and hang with the crew that will be there!

It will be held over at SIUE campus.. more details to follow!

To learn more about Cystic Fibrosis, please visit:  www.cff.org
To learn more about Celiac Disease, please visit:  www.celiac.org
To learn more about my autoimmune components please visit:  www.lupus.org

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. I walk for them. Will you join me and support my fundraising goal? 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.  We are at a pivotal moment in the history of cystic fibrosis and your support matters. With your help, we can invest our resources in research today, while raising funds for tomorrow, to ensure we have what it takes to reach the finish line. Together, we can make CF stand for Cure Found. Please help me reach my fundraising goal!

Your donation is 100% tax deducitble!
Please support me!