Help To Make Danielles Life With Cystic Fibrosis A Little Easier.

As Danielle's friends we know how extremely hard it is for her to live with Cystic Fibrosis on its own let alone with being a single parent raising a beautiful 2 year old by herself, being the amazing mother she, is she puts her daughter first which means not having the time to take care of herself, because of this we have decided to put together a fundraising 5k run to raise money to go towards a Airway Clearence Vest which clears excess mucus from the lungs and most importantly it will help Danielle's life with this awful disease just that little bit easier. These vests can only be bought from the states and cost around £2000-£3000. For more information on these vests please visit http://www.hill-rom.co.uk/uk/United-Kingdom/Products/Airway-Clearance/The-Vest/

Danielle's story.. 

I am 23 years old and i have Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Not many people know what CF is or truly understand what having it involves. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic life threatening disease that affects mostly the lungs but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys and intestine. So far there is no cure, the average life expectancy for someone living with CF is 31. This horrible disease has also caused me other problems such as diabetes, liver disease and aenemia. It is a never ending list of numerous amounts of vitamins, special dietry requirements and a number of different medications need to be taken daily to keep this undercontrol. I have to take around 80 tablets a day, a numerous amount of needles & blood tests, physio 3/4 times a day, nebulisers 5 times a day, the endless hospital admissions, doctor appointments, having to put a NG tube down my nose everynight and to sit on a pump for hours at a time just to unblock my stomach, also living with a constant cough where everyone looks at you like your going to give them something because to look at me, to anyone that dont know me, im just an ordinary girl  but really every day is a constant battle that is physically and emotionally draining, every day im suffering and fighting just to keep myself alive.

With CF you have thick sticky mucus clogging up your lungs making it difficult to breathe, you suffer with constant chest infections which means you need even more treatments and hospital visits, as well as this CF also affects the pancreas, a build up of thick, sticky mucus blocks the stomach making it hard to diest food which can cause malnutrition, leading to poor growth and physical weakness.

For the last few years my lung function has declined each year now being at 43% which means my lungs only work under half of what they should do. I have had some years where i've spent most of that year in hospital on IV antibiotics. Now i have learnt to do the IVs at home myself which enables me to try and live as normal life as i can & to be with my daughter who needs me but i still have occasions where its vital i stay in the hospital for treatments where i need to be on oxygen as i have found it too difficult to breathe. I have had a few operations, one where i've had a gastro tube fitted into my stomach to have feeds to help me gain weight i had this for a few years, I also have a portacath fitted under my skin which has a tube that goes to my heart to feed the antibiotics through which i have had for about 8 years now.

What a vest will mean to my life - Physio can be draining & painful at times as well as time consuming but its very important to my health. The vest is a quick easy solution that i can just plug myself into which means more precious time for me to spend with my daughter. 

Everyday you have enough and dont want to keep going through the same routine just to keep yourself alive but you have no choice i have lost alot of friends to Cystic Fibrosis and I hope that I can keep fighting. 

Please please help us to make a small difference to Danielle's life and sponser us by making a donation of any amount, the smallest amount will still make a difference.

Breath Easy xx