Beth Martin

Spring has sprung, Easter is here, the cherry blossoms are beautiful, and March Madness is in full swing!   So that means it is also time to send out my annual request to support a very worthy cause.  I am reaching out to you and asking you to support the annual Great Strides fundraiser to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis (CF).  For those of you not familiar with CF, it is the most common killer of children and young adults in the United States today.  For the past 32 years my family has participated in the Great Strides walk because a family friend had a daughter with CF. As you may remember, Colleen passed away 10 years ago while awaiting a double lung transplant.   She was only 23 years old, but Colleen lived a life that made us all proud.   We are doing the fundraising again this year in her memory, as well as for all those still bravely fighting the disease.    When we started the walk, Colleen’s life expectancy was 19 years.   Due to continuing medical advancements, many people with the disease can now expect to live into their 30s, 40s and beyond. In fact, the median life expectancy for someone born with CF is now 56 years old and 60% of the people living with CF are adults!!    During the last couple of years there have been huge breakthroughs in CF drug development and research with 40+ therapies in the drug development pipeline.    Incredible progress is being made, but still no cure for everyone afflicted with the disease.

Just for a little background, the CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION (CFF) was established in 1955 to raise money for research to find a cure for CF and to improve the quality of life for the 40,000 children and adults with the disease in the US.  Please note that over 84% of the dollars raised by the CFF are invested in CF science for research, patient advocacy, education and patient care, with 120 care centers nationwide.  And virtually every approved CF drug available today was made possible with CFF support, developed as a result of an innovative business model called venture philanthropy.  

Many of you have supported our efforts in prior years.  This year we continue to need your help, as we get closer and closer to a cure for everyone.  Last year our team raised over $14K and we had over 100 sponsors.  The walks in the Washington area alone last year raised over $650K.  This year my goal is to raise at least $2K.  We hope to raise over $1M for the Metro DC area.   It is our hope that the money raised will quickly lead to exciting scientific discoveries which will eliminate fatal CF lung infections forever.  As our good friend who has worked with CF patients for much of his life said, we just need to imagine the unimaginable.

 If you would like to support our cause, I will be accepting your tax deductible donations through the end of May.   Checks can be made payable to the CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION and the canceled check will serve as your receipt for tax purposes.  If you are sending a check by mail, please send it to my home address at: 4809 Walney Knoll Court, Chantilly, VA 20151.     I will also accept cash, but I don't have any official CF receipts to hand out for tax purposes. 

Of course, it is also very easy to donate online.  Just click on the link above  'Donate To Beth'.