Great Strides is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's largest and most successful national fund-raising event. For the third year in a row, I'm walking in the Great Strides walk at the Naperville Riverwalk Grand Pavilion on May 19, 2012. Please help me meet my fund-raising goal of $4,000 by sponsoring me. Your generous gift will be used efficiently and effectively, as nearly 90 cents of every dollar of revenue raised is available for investment in vital CF programs to support research, care and education.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cystic fibrosis (CF), CF is a devastating genetic disease that affects tens of thousands of children and young adults in the United States. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is making a huge difference in extending the quality of life for those with CF. However, we continue to lose precious lives to CF every day. That's why your help is needed now more than ever to ensure that a cure is found sooner - rather than later. To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org.

Check out Kylie's story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2KSQqKpHUY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I get asked several times throughout the year “How is your daughter doing?” and my usual response is “she is doing well”. The reality is that Kylie is a very sick little girl that’s doing great with an incredible daily routine managing her CF. Her treatment times have increased in the last year. Kylie receives up to 5 nebulizer treatments a day and 2-3 chest therapy vest treatments, just to stay one step ahead of this disease and to fight bacterias in her lungs. She also receives all of her nutrition though a feeding tube 3 times a day, with supplemental feedings all night long. With the help of feeding therapy, Kylie has made great gains with her eating. She is showing a ton of interest in trying different foods and experiments with taking bites and eating small amounts. Her favorite food is salami! Kylie continues to be on 7-9 different medications depending on her health. In 2011, Kylie had 2 hospitilizations. Both times, she received a PICC line in order to administer IV antibiotics for 14-16 days. Kylie also cultured psuedomonas in her lungs 2 times. This is a bad bacteria that will continue coming back now that she has cultured it. We treat this with a nebulized medication called TOBI two times a day. After being on Tobi for over 8 months in 2011, Kylie has finally fought and kept off psuedomonas. We don't know when she will culture it again, but we're hoping she gets a long break from it!

Some have asked how Jim and I are doing, we manage with the whole hearted belief that a cure for CF is on the horizon thanks to the millions of donations that are given. Just do a quick Google search for VX-770 & VX-809 or visit http://www.cff.org/treatments/Pipeline to view some of the promising treatments currently underway. This drug is considered a "home run" for people living with cystic fibrosis. It will help to change the frequency of lung infections, hospital stays, increase lung function, fix the high salt levels and bring them back to normal, and most important increase life expectancy. These drugs should be out by 2016 if they continue showing great results!

Making a donation is easy and secure! Just click the "Click to Donate" button on this page to go to make a donation that will be credited to my team. Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated!

If you would like to join our walk team please click the "Join My Team" button bellow!!! The more walkers we have, the more money we will raise to find a cure!

Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with CF! Thank you for supporting the mission of the CF Foundation and Great Strides!

Sincerely, The East Family