Thank You!

Hello Family and Friends,

We would really like to thank you for your continued support of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We have had another very successful year of fundraising. Once again, you blew us away with donations raising over $20,000 in Colin’s name in Illinois and totaling over $30,000 with our other three states. Chris and I were recently telling someone about the fundraising efforts we do to for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and we were referred to as “heroes” for working so hard to find a cure. We feel that all of you are our “heroes” for your endless (and I mean endless) support for our cause. We WILL get there someday.

Inhaled Drug Devices

I came across an article this morning on a new inhalation device from a company in Israel called Aespironics. It's extremely thin and promises to be really cheap.  From their Website, they describe it as:

[caption id="attachment_55" align="alignleft" width="198" caption="Aespironics Inhaler"][/caption]

A tiny breath-activated turbine inside the inhaler beats at a mesh packet containing the drug particles. This releases all the particles into the air at the same time.

This article this morning reminded me that I never put up any info on Nektar's product.  Nektar is a company based just south of San Francisco.  My brother works there as an senior engineer and they work to turn drugs into inhalable drugs.  They worked on insulin a number of years ago and now they are doing Tobi Inhaled Powder (TIP) and Cipro (CIP).  They have a new inhaler as well that they are trying to get through final phases of FDA.  Their device is very tiny as well.  I looked around for a picture on their website and couldn't find one.  However, they have a nice video on the device here.

A small bump in the Wine Event

We've been talking about our wine event for many months and we took a small break during the Great Strides walk season.  We got back into it this week and encountered our first bump in the event.  It seems the restaurant we had booked for the event has gone under due to the economy.  They called the CFF office and refunded the money that was put down as a deposit, but now we are left with no location.  Trisha and I are heading out tonight for our anniversary and we plan on checking out a few other places in the same area.  This is just a minor hiccup, nothing we can't get around.  Stay tuned.

Presentation at Nektar

This last Friday, June 27, Colin, his sister Megan, his mom, and I went to visit his uncle Kevin at work in San Carlos, CA.  Kevin works at Nektar, which develops Tobi Inhaled Powder and Cipro Inhaled Powder.  Kevin set up an opportunity for us to present what it's like to live a day in Colin's life.  About 50 people showed up and listened to us tell Colin's story and the story of how we got involved in and continue to be involved in CFF fund raising.  When we were done, Colin got up and tried on his vest for everyone to see.  They asked a number of great questions related to things we have tried for Colin and how the work they are doing might help Colin and us.  They also had a few suggestions on things to look into for him, such as some basic yoga moves.  We'll have to check into that.  We had a great time giving the speech and hope to be able to go back in a year or two for some updates. Later that day, Colin came down with a fever and general sickness that one of his sisters passed to him, so we at least know why he wasn't his cheerful self in the presentation.  He got over it within the day and got to enjoy the rest of our San Francisco trip.

2008 Naperville Great Strides Walk

Colin's Clan had their 6th Naperville Great Strides walk this past weekend on June 14, 2008.  The weather was perfect and the turnout was awesome.  Check out the pictures:

 

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Colin's Clan - Great Strides Clay County Florida

This year, we added a Florida chapter of Colin's Clan.  Dina Sakowski formed a team and raised over $3500 in their first year.  Way to go Colin's Clan Clay County!!!

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more about "2008 CC FL New", posted with vodpod

Local School Hung Up over Fundraising

Principal Kevin Suchinski and the Hickory Creek Middle School in Frankfort, IL had a real hang up about raising funds for CFF this year, as you can see.  Mr. Suchinski promised the school that he would hang on the wall an entire day if they raised $5000 this year in their own walk at the school for CFF.  Colin's mother and father (Trisha and Chris) also promised to arrange for ice cream for the winning grade level.  After a successful May 23rd walk, on May 29th, Mr. Suchinski, Chris and Trisha Walsh all kept their promises to the school.  While Mr. Suchinski was stuck to the wall in the main foyer of the school, Colin's grandmother helped serve ice cream to 250 sixth graders.  Local newspapers covered the event and Mr. Suchinski's hope is that the online donations will continue to come in once the story runs this weekend.  

 

This all started four years ago when Colin's cousin Ashley attended Hickory Creek.  Her teacher at the time wanted to get the students involved in some social awareness and fundraising campaign and a paper Ashley had written on cf was the perfect springboard.  So, starting four years ago, when Colin was one, Trisha Walsh, along with Colin and his twin Megan, have given presentations to the school on what cf is and is not and have pumped up the school for their walk.  Since then, the walk has become a school-wide event and Principal Suchinski is now ready to push the concept to the rest of the school district and Colin and his family plan to be there to help.

 

This year, the school has raised about $4000 and money continues to come in.

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more about "2008 HCMS New", posted with vodpod