Great Strides, April 26th 2008

Last night we were blessed to be able to attend a diner with 30 other parents and grandparents of people with children that have Cystic Fibrosis. A 27 year old ASU graduate student who has CF and her mom spoke to all of us about their lives with CF. It was such a neat thing for Frank and I to see the faces of other parents and hear about their children. I haven't stopped thinking about it since we got home. I literally laid in bed for 2 hours after the lights were out thinking about all we learned at the meeting last night and still it consumes my thoughts. One of the things we heard about is the Great Strides Walk on April 26th at Kiwinas Park to support CF. Here is my blogger invite to walk with our family:

We wanted to invite you to join Team Mama Lou in the Cystic Fibrosis GREAT STRIDES walk this April 26, 2008!

We found out about Cystic Fibrosis 8 months ago when our newborn was diagnosed with this life threatening genetic lung disease. Until then we had no idea what Cystic Fibrosis was, or that my husband and I were symptomless carriers of the disease. Like most people and health problems it didn’t exist or “matter” to us until it affected us deeply. It is hard to explain to people what the details and significance of the disease is. I am sure it is difficult to understand how it feels to have a child with a disease that doesn’t have a cure, unless that child is a part of your life. However something that is easy for everyone to feel and understand is hope and excitement for a cure for CF and medicinal improvements.

Why Team Mama Lou you ask? Well MAMA is the initials of our baby's name - and Lou is a nic name she picked up along the way. (On the TV show I Love Lucy, band leader Ricky Ricardo plays the drums and always sings "babalou babalou" and when we do Maelee's chest physical therapy it reminds me of that so we started calling her "babalou" which eventually shortened to Lou.

Frank and I are excited for this walk because doing it helps us do more than just help our daughter, but also the other 30,000 American’s with this disease. We feel that the more people understand about Cystic Fibrosis the better off we all are. Of course part of this walk is raising money. Our family fund raising goal is $1,000. We are not the kind of people who feel comfortable asking others for money, but we are happy to know that any money people do give would be used wisely. Nearly 90 cents of every dollar of revenue raised is available for investment in vital CF programs to support research, care and education. GREAT STRIDES is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's largest and most successful national fund-raising event. This year, we are walking in the GREAT STRIDES walk at the Kiwanas Park walk on April 26, 2008. To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org.
Our personal GREAT STRIDES walk web page is linked below.

http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/KamarahAdams

Let us know if you want to walk with us because I am making everyone who is walking a Team Mama Lou bandana. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with CF!

Love,
The Adams Family

PS – Here is a recent news article about an Arizona family with a child that has Cystic Fibrosis. Also if you want to forward this walking invitation to other family and or friends please feel more than welcome to! Bandana’s for all who let me know they are walking!
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0324newbornscreenings0324dean.html