A plea

When I was born the life-expectancy for someone with CF was in the late teens or early 20s. Now that I have a child of my own, I can only imagine how my parents felt hearing that news.

But here I am. At age 26 I am healthy and strong. I carried and gave birth to a beautiful 8.5 lb baby. I live, I work, I do all the things any normal 26 year-old might do.

In fact, on top of doing what a "normal 26 year-old might do" I am training to run a half-marathon; the more I run, the healthier and stronger I get and the more I prove just how far CF research has come. I am running for me. I'm running for my son. I'm running to kick CF in the arse.

I chose to run this particular half-marathon because I can run with "Team 65 Roses," a team that raises money for CF research. I knew it would mean a lot to run with a team of people all devoted to bettering lives for those with CF.

I write all this because I am asking you for your help and support. You can help me out in many ways!

1) You can donate to my half-marathon fundraising page here.
2) You can donate to my Great Strides team page here. (This is the fundraising walk I do every year- we raised a whopping $10,081 last year! That's right, we broke $10,000! You all are AMAZING!)
3) You can purchase flowers to beautify your garden and help me raise even more money here.
4) You can pray for me in both my training and fundraising efforts. (This might seem silly to some of you, but I know I can't do this without help and support!)

Please do what you can! It really means a lot to me. Your donations not only help show your support, but go towards the amazing research that has gotten me where I am today. You will not only be helping us get closer to a cure, but you will be helping to better the everyday lives of those of us with CF. You may not realize just how much time, money, and energy goes into daily care (even for someone as healthy as me!) and your money goes towards developing new, better, and faster treatments.

If you choose to donate, whichever page you choose doesn't matter. I love seeing our Great Strides numbers go up every year, but I also would love (and need) some support in my new endeavor! I will "count" both totals towards our Great Strides team total this year.

And maybe this cute little face will help encourage you...

Think he's ready to go for a run with mom?