RT Student Blog

*Let me preface this post by saying that I hate my camera and plan to replace it soon* You'll see by the pictures

Tonight I went to the local kickoff event for the Great Strides walk. I have really gotten caught up with this great organization and a lot of the bloggers dealing with CF, but this is the first time I actually met someone living with the disease. I met The House family and Christian who has CF. They started the Great Strides walk in Fayetteville last year, Go check out their Caring Bridge site to see how Christian is doing.

I look forward to get to know all of these brave people in this area as the walk gets closer. Don't forget to check out my team page to see how you can help.

In school when we went over airway clearance we learned about the vest. I didn't think much about it until I started talking to all of you, my new friends, living with Cystic Fibrosis. Now I know that the vest has cut mortality rates in half, I also know that it costs over $15,000. Now I have some questions. Do you have one? Is it easy to get and get covered by insurance, medicaid, or whatever you use? Do you know of kids with cf in families that cannot afford one? Is the company that makes it receptive to this and willing to help you get one, even if you can't afford it? I don't mean to pry but I have plans and ideas and the answers to these questions will help me. Please leave a comment or if you'd rather it remain private please email me at marcus.williford(at)gmail(dot)com. Thank you.

Oh, before I go I wanted to tell you guys about a new blog I found. Her name is Salty (I'm sure thats not her real name) and she seems to be living with CF and diabetes. Her blog is Salty and Sweet. She's a hottie too(sorry,I just had to throw that in there. I am a guy after all). Here is what she says in the "about me" section

"Other Cystic Fibrosis warriors must be out there. I believe we must band together, share with each other, and fight these horrendous diseases together. Knowledge is power. The more we know the stronger, and healthier, we each will be.

I have dedicated many hours of my life reaching out to help my doctors find a cure and new treatments for Cystic Fibrosis. Now I want reach out and connect with others who have CF, those who have CFRD, friends, family and anyone else who knows what it is like to live with health issues, and those wonderful people who support them."

Let's get to know her too.

The other day i was searching the net and found a blog about a family in Illinois. They have a brave little girl named Ashley who has Cystic Fibrosis. I don't know how much you know about CF but it is a horrible disease in the COPD group of diseases. As a soon to be Respiratory Therapist, this disease is something I am becoming familiar with. Anyway, The Schellenbergs blog got me to thinking. First, go check out the blog, then come on back. I'll wait...

...Ok, you're back. I'll move on.

As part of my last semester I have to do some kind of community project. From reading their blog and others devoted to people living with CF, I decided to start a team to do the CF walk. The closest one to me is in Fayetteville on April 25th. I signed up for a team and sent out some invitations to prospective team members. I even set lofty fund raising goals of $1,500 for the team and $500 for myself. Now we can get down to business.

You know I'm gonna hit you up. If you are in the central NC area and would like to participate and join my team, then that's great. I doubt there are too many of you because I don't think I have a great amount of local readers. You can donate though. Any donation is greatly appreciated. Even a buck. At the bottom I'll place a link to my page where you can donate with a credit card. If you would prefer donating with Paypal then just leave me a comment or email me and I will help you do that.