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February 14, 1997 Tracy Smith’s first-born daughter, Taylor Schane Smith was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. As the realization set in, she was faced with a choice: wallow in sorrow or pull herself up by the bootstraps and deal with it. The latter is what she did. Tracy decided to do whatever she could to make sure Taylor had every fighting chance to live well into adulthood.
In 1997 Tracy was introduced to the CF Foundation and GREAT STRIDES. At that point she formed Taylor’s Troopers! Tracy wrote the first of many CF letters to everyone that she could think of: family, friends,
and co-workers; they all heard about CF. The response was an overwhelming $5,700! That was the beginning of 10+ years of commitment to the CF Foundation.At the walk in 1999, the Foundation asked Tracy to consider becoming a walk site chairperson. Tracy agreed to form a new walk site in her hometown of Wilson, NY. A small gathering of Tracy’s closest friends began what has been a successful walk site, which has raised over $200,000 for CF research. In addition to the dollars raised, the years of having a walk in the town where Taylor goes to school has given Tracy’s friends and family the opportunity to educate those around her about cystic fibrosis. One of Tracy’s goals as Taylor’s mother is to create a support system around her and to better educate her town about CF. The support the Smith Family has received as a result has been remarkable.
Tracy’s friends and family are very committed to finding new and exciting ways to fundraise for the CF Foundation. For example, they decided to have a 65 Roses living Rose Garden in front of Taylor’s elementary school, Thomas Marks. With the help of a local nursery, Faery’s Nursery, who donated the rose bushes, people were asked to donate a $100 per bush. The response was amazing and the garden raised $6,500! The garden is a work in progress to this date but it has a stone walkway down the center and an arbor in the front. The center of the garden houses an angel statue and is surrounded by 5 yellow rose bushes. The garden represents life. Roses are hearty, they withstand weather, they persevere….just like those who have to live with this disease everyday.
“Give me an ear, ask me a question, I’ll talk for an hour if you’ll let me. There is a lot of power in knowledge. This is something that I have to do as a parent, I have to be involved, I have to try to make a difference, not only for my daughter but for every child with CF, for every parent of a CF child. I dream of the day, and live with hope of the day, when we celebrate CF as Cure Found…there never will be a big enough word to describe how much EVERY DOLLAR means to us. You truly are making a difference and giving us TIME…time to be with Taylor, time to continue vital research, time to educate others, time to cherish,” says Tracy.
“To be successful, do something out of the ordinary”…author unknown. |
