Just 9 more days until “The CF Warrior Project: 65 Stories of Triumph against Cystic Fibrosis” goes on sale!
Some have asked “Why is this movement, much less this book, so important to me?”
As a young boy growing up in Atlanta, my experiences with cystic fibrosis were all virtually scary. Anything I read about CF then was how little time I had left or what things I would never get to do. Whenever I saw a flyer regarding fundraising which my parents did their best to hide from me, it was ultra-negative in order to secure donations. While this was great for fundraising purposes, it provided despair for those of us with the disease, myself included.
I realized that while fundraising is so important to helping those of us with cystic fibrosis, there was a serious lack of “hope-raising” going on that could do so much for the mental outlook of a person battling the disease on a day-to-day basis.
For so many years, I watched as “other” people participated in athletic fundraising events to help those of us with CF. Now things have changed. We are now the ones participating, fundraising and kicking some serious ass!
When I started the journey to write this book, I never thought I would find so many inspiring people. Because of the concern of getting within six feet of each other due to bacterial cross-contamination between those of us with cystic fibrosis, all interviews were conducted over the phone, e-mail or social media. I talked to people from about 20 different countries around the world and published stories of CF warriors from nearly a dozen of those. I learned that journeys were not only affected by symptoms but also by age of diagnosis, outlook and by treatment and medication availability in each warrior’s country.
What have I learned from this journey? The term “CF warrior” is not a phrase coined by just being born with cystic fibrosis. It’s a title that each of us earns by fighting cystic fibrosis with hard work, determination and a positive outlook even on the most difficult days.
It’s an honor to call myself a CF warrior. I can’t wait until you begin reading about these awesome people in my new book.
Just 9 more days…
Pre Order today!