Kathleen Lawliss

My Great Strides Story

Katie turns 30 this week!!! 

First, thank you to everyone who has ever donated to CF or otherwise supported our family over the past 30 years.  We truly are beyond grateful.

While many of us grew up taking for granted that we would celebrate our 30th birthday someday, Katie did not. At the time Katie was diagnosed in 1994 her life expectancy was less than 30, but thanks to Trikafta and other medical advances Katie will celebrate this milestone! Pre Trikafta, Katie was starting to steadily decline and was trying her best to keep up with the heavy demands of a 5 year doctorate program, maintaining relationships and just staying on top of everday tasks. In 2019, Trikafta helped change this trajectory. 

As we sat at dinner together recently, we talked about what it meant to Katie to turn 30. We all held back tears of joy as Katie talked about how grateful she is to be married to Reed, a practicing psychologist and she is looking forward to hopefully starting a family in the future. Katie and Reed celebrated their second year anniversary this year and relocated to the North Country with their two bernedoodles Pippi and Mika. Katie currently practices as a licensed Psychologist working from home to help her better manage her daily health. She is in the process of opening her own virtual practice at drkatielawliss.com and we are so very proud of her.

We are so thankful for all the scientific advances and work the CF Foundation has done to help enable Katie to continue to plan for her future. While she struggles with side effects from this drug as well as other CF related health issues, her outlook is brighter and we are forever grateful for your continued support.

Will you join us?

Great Strides is a fun event that provides a fantastic opportunity for family, friends, students, and colleagues to come together to make a difference in the lives of people with CF.

To participate, just click on the "Join our Team" button. From there, you can make a donation and start fundraising.

By joining our Great Strides team and making a donation, you will be part of a tenacious and passionate group of people committed to ending this disease. Together, let’s make CF stand for Cure Found!

There is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis. By participating in Great Strides, I am helping to end this disease for thousands of people impacted by CF.