And the Fund Raising Begins

It is that time of year again. I am beginning my fund raising for the Knoxville Great Strides walk benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 2011 was a very successful year for the walk in Knoxville. A total of $108,000 was raised, and the goal for 2012 is $125,000. My team raised $6,105 in 2011, and I have set the goal for this year at $7,000. I can't reach that goal without your help. If you would like to contribute to my goal, just click on the link below or on the link to the left.

When you make a donation, almost 90 cents of every dollar go straight to funding research to find new medicines and treatments, and hopefully, one day, a cure. There have been huge steps forward lately in the fight against cystic fibrosis, and that has a lot to do with all of the donations that have been so generously given. Last year was the first year that there were more adults alive with CF than children. That's huge!!! That means that because of all the innovative treatments now available to those with the disease, we are living longer. Also, just this week, a new drug that treats the actual cause of cystic fibrosis instead of just the symptoms. It is called Kalydeco, and it is truly a first. Kalydeco only benefits about 4% of people with CF which I am unfortunately not a part of. Researchers are working on a combination of Kalydeco and another drug to treat those who have the most common mutation.... ME!

Every donation is greatly appreciated, and no amount is too small!

Last year, my team had 10 people at the walk, but I would love to see that number increase! You don't have to donate or raise money to be a part of my team. Everyone is welcome! If you are interested in joining me at the walk, let me know, and I can send you some more information.

If you are interested in joining my team and raising money, just click on the donate now link to go to my donation page. Then you click on join my team, and it will guide you through registering and setting a fund raising goal.

Finally, I am ordering shirts for my team this year. I am charging $20 for them, and any money left over after paying for them will go straight to CF. I will be ordering them at the end of March, so if you are interested in getting one, let me know. Here is what they look like.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Friday! Have a great weekend, and enjoy the Super Bowl! :)

Liebster Blog Award

This is a blog award that Jenna gave me. Liebster is German for favorite or dearest. It means a lot to me that she reads and enjoys my blog. With the award comes some rules.... so here we go:

1) Acknowledge the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. 
That was Jenna, and here is the link to her blog.

2) Give this award to 5 other bloggers who have fewer than 200 readers. Let them know through a comment on their blog. They are listed below.

3) Post this wonderful award on your blog. See cute badge above. If you're confused about how to do this, simply right-click on the image and save it; then, upload it as you would normally add a picture to a blog post.

4) Bask in the glory bestowed upon you and appreciate all the amazing bloggers out there.


Here are the winners that I have chosen:

1. *Live*Laugh*Love*Breathe*- Colleen is another Cyster sharing her story about how she is living with cystic fibrosis. Her posts are so great to read, and she is incredibly motivating.
2. Jamiebug- Jamie is an amazing inspiration. She received a lung transplant a little over 4 years ago, and her story blows me away.
3. Breathe Easy- Jessi is a Cyster who is fighting CF with all she has. She is on the waiting list for a double lung transplant, and she is another person who serves as a huge inspiration to me. 
4. Notes to Self- My good friend, Lacey is spending the year in Uganda, and this is a blog about her adventures. She is adorable, and her story is really great! 
5. Life with my Boys- Marla is my sister-in-law, and she shares stories of her life with my two nephews.

Does Hard Work Pay Off?

Today was my clinic appointment. As you may recall, I set a pretty hefty goal for myself. I decided to work out like crazy and stay compliant with all of my treatments and medications. I was hoping to achieve a 60% on my FEV1. Well, I have been working out every day. I bought a treadmill that I have been using some (I could definitely up the treadmill usage), and I have now been 100% compliant for 93 days. So.... did the hard work pay off?????

At my last appointment in October, I was at 54%. Today, I blew a 63%!!! The work paid off, and I feel fantastic! I have never been so proud of myself or of my PFT, but I'm not stopping there. I already have a new goal in mind for my next appointment. I am shooting for 70%. My doctor thinks that it is possible, and I have a really good feeling about it.

My doctor asked me during my appointment today what had made me decide to work this hard to get my numbers up. I had to think about that, because there isn't just one reason. There is a whole list of things that has led to my motivation.

1. Child-- I want to have a child. I want the experience of being pregnant and of holding my baby for the first time. I can only do that if I am healthy enough to go through a pregnancy. 
2. Eldon--I have an amazing husband, and frankly, I am not ready to leave him yet! I want to spend as much time with him as possible. I owe it to him to try to stick around.
3. Family and Friends-- I have a huge amount of people supporting me in my fight against CF. I would be letting them down if I didn't fight with all I had. 
4. Quality of Life--When I work out and do all of my treatments, I feel so much better. Yes, I spend a ton of time making sure I stay healthy, but the pros outweigh the cons. 
5. Accomplishment-- Giving myself a goal to work towards and meeting that goal makes me feel like I am really accomplishing something. 
6. Motivating Others-- If someone reads my story and sees the difference that some dedication can make, maybe that person will be motivated to do the same thing. 
7. Beat CF-- I want more than anything to beat CF. I want to live a long life.... not a long life for someone with CF. 
8. New Treatments-- I want the opportunity to see what exciting new treatments are in store for those of us with CF. 
9. Raise Money and Awareness-- I want to see the day when I tell the average person I have cystic fibrosis, he/she knows what I am talking about. Most of the time, there is a need to explain what CF is if it comes up in conversation now. I would also love to raise as much money as I can so that we will see a cure.... maybe even in my lifetime. 

There are probably more reasons, but those are the ones that come to mind right away. So I will work as hard as I can to get my lung function as high as possible. When my lungs reach their limit of improvement, I will work as hard as I can to keep my lung function there. While I have my sights set on 70% for May 2nd, my sights are set much higher for the more distant future. We will just have to see how high my lungs can go. :)

Good Things Coming

There is super exciting news in the world of cystic fibrosis today! Kalydeco, which is the first drug to actually treat the cause of CF instead of just the symptoms got approved by the FDA! It is only effective for 4% of those who have CF, but it is definitely a huge step in the right direction. Can't wait to see what they come up with next, and I have high hopes that it will be for those of us with the most common gene mutation, delta F508. My hopes are high.

This is the article from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. FDA Approves Kalydeco (VX-770) — First Drug That Targets the Underlying Cause of CF - CFF

This is the article from the FDA.

This is the article from Vertex which is the company that created Kalydeco.

Pretty Incredible

This is a woman who has a sister with Cystic Fibrosis. In honor of her, she ran 1,000 miles from St. Louis, Missouri to New York City in 65 days last year. She did it all to raise money and awareness for CF. Pretty incredible!

Progress and Potential

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to do more blog posts this year, so here's my first step towards that. This week has worn me out! I finished my first week of P90X, and every muscle in my body is sore which I love, because it shows me how hard I worked. I can't honestly say that I'm looking forward to week 2, but I am looking forward to being able to say that I did it. I'm working my butt off because my doctor's appointment is in 23 days. I want my lungs to be in the best shape possible! In that same area, I have now been 100% compliant for 69 days! I have never been so proud of myself, because staying compliant is much more difficult to me than anything else. I have always struggled with being willing to put the time into taking care of myself, but now that I finally am, I feel so much better. Amazing how that works. Ha! My husband told me the other day that he was proud of me, and I just ate that up! The support that I get from Eldon is phenomenal, and I really don't know that I would be where I am now without him. I am doing this almost more for him than for me. I owe him my healthiest self for as long as I can give him that. Plus, we both really want to have a baby, and I will not do that if my lungs are not in good enough shape. There is so much to work for and so much to look forward to. This is why 2012 is so exciting to me! There is just so much potential.

2012

I'm a few days behind on this one, but life has been a little crazy. 2011 had a lot of ups and downs for me, but it was one of the most life changing years so far. I got married and made major changes when it comes to taking care of myself! I couldn't be more excited about 2012 though. I have high hopes and higher goals. I decided that I would post some of my resolutions on here so that I will hopefully be less likely to fail. Here goes nothing:

1. Keep 100% compliance with my treatments
2. Workout everyday 
3. Use my treadmill everyday (That can be for running or walking)
4. Complete P90X (I fell off the train for a few weeks, so I'm starting over, and this time, my sister is doing it too. That way we can hold each other accountable.)
5. Find a teaching job
6. Read 50 books in a year (This one is hard, but I love to read. I really want to spend more time reading good books. )
7. Be more artsy (crafts, DIY projects, paintings)
8. Raise my FEV1 to 70% (atleast... the higher the better)

There are some others, but I won't bore you with those. These are the most relevant ones for my blog. I'm so excited about what is to come, and I really hope that I can start seeing a difference in myself.

Right now, I have kicked everything into high gear, because my next doctor's appointment is February 1st. My goal for that appointment is to have my lung function up to 60%. That's a big jump from where I was in October, but I think it is possible. I am anxious to see what all of my hard work has done for my lungs.

On another note, I would like to do more posts this year, but it is sometimes difficult to come up with topics to write about. If you have any questions for me or ideas for a post, please let me know. I would love some input!