Rebecca Quaintance

This will be our 19th year doing the Great Strides Walk.  As most of you know my daughter, Hayley, has Cystic Fibrosis (CF). 

Hayley was diagnosed with CF when she was three months old. She is now 20 years old and a sophomore at Indiana University Bloomington.  It still amazes me that she is healthy enough to go away to school and live on her own as we years ago, we did not know if this would be possible.  Thanks to your donations over the years, Hayley started a new medication in the fall of 2019 called Trikafta.  Since she started taking that medication, she has not been hospitalized overnight.  It is simply amazing as she used to be in the hospital 3-4 times per year, sometimes for weeks at a time.

While this medication has dramatically improved her health and the health of thousands of others with CF, it is not a cure and she still takes numerous medications and does her treatments everyday just to stay healthy.  

Most days if you just look at Hayley, you probably would not even know she has CF. But she struggles and fights for her health 365 days per year. She endures at least 3 hours of breathing treatments and vest therapy sessions each day when she is healthy, just to stay healthy. And when she is sick, more treatments, up to an additional three hours are added to help her get better faster. Hayley must take enzymes with every meal and snack to help her absorb the fat and nutrients in her food. She currently takes over 40 pills per day. In addition to her treatments and enzymes, she takes ten other medications on a daily basis just to stay healthy.  I

I really don't know how she does it, she simply AMAZES me with how strong and brave she is!  She does have her moments where it all can be overwhelming and gets her down, but it doesn't last long and she is back at it fighting just to stay healthy!

In her short life, she has already had over forty (40) hospitalizations due to her CF, most lasting several days to two weeks sometimes. 

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that:

•clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections; and

•obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.

Please help us raise money to find a cure for Hayley and all of the other kids and adults add more tomorrows.  We lose so many people to CF each day. 

Every dollar helps get us closer to finding a cure!  Please be thankful for the healthy children in your life and make a donation to help cure Cystic Fibrosis.

Real progress has been made in the search for a cure, but the lives of people with CF are still cut far too short. There still is no cure for this devastating disease. By walking today, I am helping add tomorrows to the lives of people living with cystic fibrosis. Will you join me? Support me by making a donation to my Great Strides fundraising campaign today!