2022 Letter

On May 15th, we participated in our 20th Great Strides Walk to cure Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in Wakefield, MA.

Although we have not walked since 2019 due to COVID, Deirdre ran 65 miles during the month of May last year to raise money for the CF Foundation. Thanks to the generous support of family and friends, she raised over $25,000 bringing our total to $486,000 since we began in 2002 (when Deirdre was just a year old).

To catch up to Deirdre is hard these days as she left January 14th to study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for the semester.

Within two weeks of arriving, she came down with COVID, but was fortunate to come out of quarantine in time to celebrate her 21st birthday on January 31st.

She has been thriving ever since, having traveled to 9 countries so far and making friends all over the world.

I never thought this would be possible having CF and living abroad for a semester. However, she has proved me wrong and making it work.

We just returned from visiting Deirdre and she is doing great. She is living her best life with no regrets. As a matter of fact, it was hard to keep up with her going day and night taking it all in.

If you recall, Deirdre started Trikafta in December 2019. Thanks to this CF drug, Deirdre has been hospital free for 3 years and doing wonderful. This would not be possible without all the fundraising of so many for the CF Foundation.

This drug (from Vertex Pharmaceuticals) has been a game changer and wouldn’t be possible without the fundraising efforts of so many: people like YOU.

Although this isn’t a cure as she continues to swallow 175 pills and spends hours each week during medical treatments even in Denmark, we are so close to ending this disease.

We are FOREVER GRATEFUL as this is a team effort and we cannot do it without you, giving Deidre and so many others a chance to live a heathy and fulfilling life! Together, lets make CF stand for cure found!

Love, Maureen, Peter, Leah, Tess and Deirdre