January 13, 2004

The program today was about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and instead of the usual staff people from such organizations we had two individuals with very personal experiences.

First was Linda Bowman, a CF sufferer.  She was diagnosed with CF in her early years, before much that is known today about the disease was available.  Initially diagnosed with bronchitis, by the time the truth was learned the damage was done.  The good news is that she has beaten the statistical odds of a life expectancy of 31 year by 10 years.  Linda went into great detail describing the daily treatments she has to endure and the numbers of pills and medications, in addition to the rehabilitation, she must deal with daily.  It certainly made a lot of us grateful for what we have, and her enthusiasm and positive outlook was inspiring.

Next John Lamb told a frightening story of misdiagnosis, tenacity and awareness.  His wife was suspicious about the health of their daughter Kristy, and despite numerous assurances by members of the medical profession that she had no serious condition, through their own research  and perserverence their fears were confirmed that Kristy has CF.  If there is good news to this story it is that the disease was caught at an early stage so that treatment could begin before more damage was done.  CF is a digenerative disease, and although as of now there is no cure, the earlier caught the more effective the treatment.

Finally Karen Watynski, Special Events Coordinator for the CF Foundation in Fort Lauderdale made the group aware of upcoming fundraising events in the area, the soonest and closest being February 28 in Coral Springs at North Community Park.  It will be a "Great Strides" 10 K walk-a-Thon.  More information can be obtained at wwwcff.com.  Over 90% of funds raised go to research

A Light Moment

Karen Watynski