May is CF Awareness Month

Last night I found out the May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness month. Admittedly the month is almost halfway over, but it is still worth mentioning.

CF is a genetic condition that affects over 30, 000 Americans, 70,000 worldwide. It's a lot of people, but unfortunately is not enough to attract the research dollars of the big pharmaceutical firms. Instead most of the research dollars are raised by the grassroots efforts of groups such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

And a lot of progress has been made treating this life threatening condition.

In the 1950's children diagnosed with CF were not expected to reach grade school, forty years later the average life expectancy is in the mid-thirty's.

Max has clearly benefited from the new treatments for CF. His pancreas is clogged with thick sticky mucus and is unable to produce digestive enzymes. As a result he is unable to digest most foods. That is what led to his diagnoses,his failure to thrive. Now he is a very sturdy 5 year old. He is physically a little on the small side, but he is all boy and has a huge personality.