Our Xtreme Hike Story

Hello, Team Morgan! It’s that time of year again, with a new school year starting, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Xtreme Hike right around the corner in September. After a few non-traditional years between Covid and the hike being impacted by Hurricane Ian last year, we are looking forward to making the trip to Massanutten in Virginia in late September to take on the 22-mile mile (in a single day!) hike with an awesome group of hikers and supporters all working towards a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.  

We have hiked for the last 10 years (a little less for Kristen!) for our daughter, Morgan, who has Cystic Fibrosis. Medical advancements made possible by research and funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation coupled with her hard work doing 1.5 to 2 hours of daily breathing treatments and therapies have enabled Morgan to stay healthy over the years. Morgan would not be as healthy as she is, and able to maintain all she does, including her love of swimming, without drugs like Kalydeco which treat the underlying cause of CF.  

We won’t stop hiking because we know there is a lot more on the horizon, and we will do everything we can to enable the CF Foundation to continue on towards a cure. There are also a subset of CF patients who are still waiting for their life-saving drug, and we hike for them. 

The group we hike with at the Xtreme Hike is awesome. It includes other parents of those fighting CF, relatives and friends of those who have lost the fight, and teammates supporting a specific individual or simply passionate about finding a cure, etc. It’s an amazing community all after the same goal - a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Everyone is welcome, so please join us if you can! 

Thank you so much for reading, and as always, thank you for your continued support. We will keep you posted on our progress and wish you all a wonderful and safe fall.

- Rob, Kristen, Alex and Morgan

PS. For those that aren’t familiar with CF, it is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time. In people with CF, a defective gene causes a thick, sticky buildup of mucus in the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. In the lungs, the mucus clogs the airways and traps bacteria leading to infections and extensive lung damage. In the pancreas, the mucus prevents the release of digestive enzymes that allow the body to break down food and absorb vital nutrients.