Kelsi's Fundraiser for CFF

[Guest guest]

Below I pasted a copy of the article from our local newspaper, the

Madison Enterprise-Recorder in Madison, FL. It ran this past Friday.

Kelsi Reams, 7-year-old daughter of Joe and Kathy Reams of Greenville

loves her two little sisters very much. She helps out Mom and Dad

with Chloe who is 2yrs. 10 mos. old and Abby who is 17 mos., neither

of which have a problem keeping the excitement flowing around the

home.

Although one would never suspect a problem by her appearance, Kelsi's

baby sister Abby was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) on January

9th 2003. CF is a genetic disease, which occurs in roughly 1 in

2,800 births in the US. It is predominant in whites where 1 in 24

people carry the gene responsible for CF. When two carriers conceive

there is a 25% chance that the child will receive a copy of the gene

from both parents and will have CF. CF affects the endocrine glands

(glands which secrete fluids) and make the body's secretions less

hydrated than normal. Where this causes the most serious problems is

in the lungs since mucous becomes thicker and harder to move. CF is

notorious for causing lung infections that tend to increase in

intensity and over time degrade lung function.

Abby receives chest physical therapy (CPT) twice a day. This is done

by clapping on her chest and back for 20-30 min. with a rubber hand-

held percussor in order to keep the airways in the lungs from

becoming plugged. One night when Joe was administering CPT Kelsi sat

down next to them and asked how long Abby had to have CPT. " Until we

have a cure. " was the answer. She then wanted to know what would

happen if a cure wasn't found to which her dad explained that they

were very close and felt sure it would be soon. Kelsi kept on

pressing, wanting to know why they don't just get the cure so " we

could give some to Abby " . Her dad explained that money was needed to

fund the research. That was all Kelsi needed to hear. After

brainstorming that night she decided that she would set up a stand

and sell hot chocolate then give all the money to those working on a

cure for CF.

She plans to be in front of her " Uncle Buddy's " office which you

might know as Witmer Realty on Base St. in Madison this coming

Saturday. There will be hot chocolate for sale and possibly coffee

and donuts. Kelsi will be there to take your order along with other

kids in her family.

All donations will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). The

CFF is responsible for funding the vast majority of CF research and

are currently funding several extremely promising large-scale

clinical trials involving gene therapy and other methods of

correcting the problem at the source as well as new drugs to fight

the symptoms of CF. The CFF is recognized as one of the premier

charities in the country and was ranked number three in efficiency by

SmartMoney magazine.

Anyone interested in learning more about CF can visit their website

at cff.org.

Note: We did it yesterday and it worked out great. Did plenty of

signs and had folks from all over the county driving over for hot

chocolate. Several cousins got in on the action and we sort of

backed off and let them handle it. It was pretty hilarious. Got a

lot of good pictures for a fowwlow up article in the paper. Can you

believe she raised $1,160.85 Hard to believe we'd do that in our

tiny (pop. 1000) town. The closest city of ANY size is Tallahassee

and it's 40 miles away. We were really proud.

Joe