For years, the Foundation's tagline has been adding tomorrows and we do that in many ways: funding research, leading drug discovery and development and supporting the highest quality care for people with cystic fibrosis. The search for lifesaving treatments and a cure is at the core of everything we do.
This site will continue to highlight the work we're doing to add tomorrows, but with half of all people with CF now over the age of 18, we also want it to help people with CF live better lives today.
With the newly launched CFF.org, we'll do that in lots of different ways.
You'll find expanded health information and improved resources designed to help you in your daily life — resources on nutrition, fitness, and staying healthy. This is just the beginning of our work: we'll continue to roll out new and expanded information on topics like lung transplantation, coping with mental health challenges, and managing CF while traveling. The website will continue to evolve to bring you the most up-to-date information available.
And, because no one knows more about the day-to-day challenges of this disease than the people living with it, you'll also find the words, stories, and images of people with CF throughout the site.
If you're reading this, you've already discovered the feature of the new site I'm most excited about — our community blog. The blog is a place to hear firsthand from people with cystic fibrosis, parents, volunteers, clinicians, researchers, friends of people with CF — anyone whose life has been touched by this disease. After you're done with this post, consider checking out Piper Beatty's great story about the power of digital connection. If you have an idea for a blog post, we invite you to write to us at info@cff.org.
There are so many people with cystic fibrosis doing interesting and amazing things — going to college, starting families, running marathons, climbing mountains — and the list goes on and on. And so often those same people are also struggling to pay the bills, find time to manage the burden of treatments, and figure out how to explain CF to their employers and friends.
We want to showcase all aspects of life with cystic fibrosis. The good, the bad...and the just plain messy.
Michele, 24, does several hours of treatment a day while working part time as a nanny and pursuing a degree in education online.
We hope you will not just read the blog, but also weigh in and share your thoughts in the comments section at the end of every post. Our goal is to listen and create a space where people in the community can talk with each other. Life with CF brings many questions. We don't have all the answers. Many times, the best wisdom and advice will come from the CF community, so we hope you'll share your perspective.
And we hope you'll find that the things you've always done to support our mission become even easier with better online tools for getting involved, donating, and raising awareness.
Many in the CF community have given us feedback on the redesign — people living with CF, parents, researchers, volunteers, and clinicians — and we're better for that input. These contributions have led to a site that we hope will be not just a hub of news and information, but also a source of inspiration and community for all those living with cystic fibrosis — and everyone who supports them.
So…what do you think of the new site?