With the emergence of the bright spring sun, one family works to raise research money to help one of the brightest lights in their world ? their 5-year-old daughter and sister Robyn who has cystic fibrosis.
On April 21, the Rush family of Clarkston held a garage sale on Main Street with the proceeds going to help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) pursue a cure.
‘This is the first year we’ve done a garage sale,? said Robyn’s mother Sean Rush, who explained the family has done other things to raise awareness and funds, like a letter writing campaign.
‘Our number one goal is to raise funds and awareness to finding a cure. A lot of people don’t know what (cystic fibrosis) is or they confuse it with cerebral palsy,? said Rush. ‘It’s really a small population of people who have (CF). So doing anything we can to support CFF and their efforts is the idea.?
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a disease caused by a defective recessive gene that causes the body to produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus which clogs the lungs and impairs digestion; leading to poor growth, chronic lung infections and ultimately fatal lung damage. CF has no known cure.
According to a letter Rush wrote on April 10 encouraging people to help support the CFF, Robyn has had a good year despite several hospitalizations.
In addition to the garage sale, Sean and the rest of the family ? including father Chris; brother Eric, 13; and sister Devon Cooley, 16 ? plans to participate in a walk-a-thon on May 6. The family participated in ‘The Great Strides? walk in Rochester Hills in previous years, as part of Team Robyn’s Rebels.
‘We’ll run the teams until we get CF fixed,? said Rush.
Rush credits CFF with helping improve the lives of those with CF.
‘One of their lines is making CF stand for cure found. The only way to do that is by funding research,? said Rush.
According to their Web site, the CFF was established in 1955 to assure the development of the means to cure and control CF and to improve the quality of life for those with the disease.
More information on CFF can be found at www.cff.org.