Color Me Rad OKC and Cystic Fibrosis

Last week I signed Dear Husband and myself up for the Color Me Rad 5K in Oklahoma City.  I clicked the “donate” box to give a little extra to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Oklahoma City.  Then I asked myself…what is Cystic Fibrosis?  I don’t know anybody with CF and quite honestly don’t know anything about the disease so I called the Oklahoma City Chapter to get more info.

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that effects the lungs and pancreas making it difficult to breathe and difficult for the body to absorb the nutrients from food.  Eventually it leads to loss of lung function.  Last I heard you need your lungs to live.  Only about 30,000 people in the US are affected by CF.  Because that number is relatively small (compared to say…breast cancer), Cystic Fibrosis Foundation does not get any money from the federal government to help with research.  It’s all up to them to find the money to fund research and find a cure.

About 10 years ago someone born with CF would not be expected to live past infancy.  Thanks to advances in research and new drugs the current life expectancy of someone with CF is about 38.  38 may not sound like very much but is a huge improvement from just 10 years ago.  Here’s the amazing thing…A real cure is on the horizon.  With more research and new drug approval someone with CF could live a long and normal life.  This is ground breaking news and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation hopes that soon the medical history books will have to be rewritten regarding living with CF.

Research, funding.  Funding, research.  It’s all about funding the research to find the cure.

If you’re in the OKC area this July and think that the Color Me Rad 5K sounds…rad, then here’s how you can have a crazy fun time and help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at the same time.

• Sign up for Color Me Rad and use the discount code CYSTIC10.  This will give you a 15% off your registration fee and give a portion of the fee to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
• Click the donation box on the registration page to donate an amount of your choice directly to the Foundation.
• VOLUNTEER.  Not a runner? (don’t worry, me either)  Color Me Rad needs volunteers in their Bomb Squad.  Volunteer to blast runners with color throughout the race.  Color Me Rad will donate $25 to CF Foundation of OKC for every volunteer that signs up.

Have more questions about CF?  Please contact Sutton Joslin at the Foundation.  sjoslin@cff.org  She is super knowledgeable and super friendly.

So let’s review:  A serious cure for CF is just around the bend.  Sign up to run in Color Me Rad or volunteer and spray me with color.  Tell a friend to run or volunteer.  I would love to see you there.