5th Annual CF Walk Results

WOW, I have so many people to thank, I don't know where to begin...;)

First off, BIG THANK YOU to all who walked with us and helped get donations for A Cure 4 Lil' Chris and all who suffer from Cystic Fibrosis!!! So many of you have brought tears to my eyes with your dedication to raising the much needed money for a CURE and longer life for my son. So many of your friends and family have so generously donated even though they don't know us. I will be forever grateful to YOU and THEM!!! Every penny gets us closer and closer to a CURE!!

THANK YOU...
David and Debbie C. (raised over $1,000!! AWESOME JOB, the most EVER from a team walker!!:)
Kevin and Jessie W.
Deb and Mike W.
Stacy W.
Kristin K.
Ashleigh and Cody S.
Andrea and John S.
Lynnette and Jillian C.
Miller Family
Gail R.
Butler Family
Spencer H.
Josh W.
Cody S.
Robbie and Jamie
Rosie C. and family
Morgan, Ella, and family


BIG THANK YOU to those who have donated towards my team, A Cure 4 Lil' Chris!! I know most of you live very far away and can't make it to our walk, but I'm so grateful for your support and generous donations to help end Cystic Fibrosis!!
THANK YOU...
Barb N. (Thanks for my first ever reoccurring monthly donation!!:)
Steve, Danielle, Cara, Eva, and Rafe S.
Al and Nancy S.
Aunt Mar
Centeno Family
Dad
Aunt Donna and Uncle Jerry
David and Elizabeth Harcus
Mom
Paul and Kim S.(made my birthday with their donation:)
Rachel P.
Stacy W.
Carol S.
Holly S. (Thanks for doing your party to raise money for CF!!)
Tiffany L.

BIG THANK YOU to the business sponsors I got this year! We are soooo grateful that your business would help support our great cause!!
THANK YOU...
Kohl's ($5,000)
Sprint Preferred Wireless($500)
Anonymous Sponsor($250)
Verizon on Cleveland Rd($125)
Wayne Savings Bank($125)
The Borelli Agency
Alice Noble Ice Arena
MCTV
Sign Design Wooster
Dominos
McDonald's
Panera Bread
Jimmy John's
Woo's Brew
Speedway for ice
Everyone who made cookies
Pat Catan's
Wooster Fire Dept
Samaritan Care
The Cat's Meow
Dr. Dave

I gotta thank my AMAZING team at Kohl's for doing all my CF fundraisers throughout the year and for coming to our walk! I can't thank you guys enough for all the support and for helping us raise $5,000!!
THANK YOU...
New Philly Kohl's for driving all the way to Wooster to our walk:)
Scott
Dorrice
Ramona
Sarah
Rachel P
Devin
Jolleen
Laura
Claire
Jen M
Jen E
Stacie M
and I'm sure many more that helped out at one point or another with my fundraisers:)

 

I'd like to thank our AWESOME Wooster Christian School Team that walked with us too...
THANK YOU...
Mr. Claes
Mrs. Falkenberg and family
Mrs. Curtis and family
Jillian and family
Tripp and family
Alexis and family

BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Falkenberg(Ayla's teacher) and Mrs. Buehler(Lil' Chris' teacher) for collecting change for CF over the past few months in the classrooms!! And BIG THANK YOU to all the kids who brought their change in to help support a cure for Lil' Chris!! We are very thankful to you all!! Wooster Christian School is the BEST!!!!

Our whole walk was a HUGE success and so much fun!! We had about 200 walkers!! WOOHOO!!We had 8 different teams!!  All together, the teams brought in about $5,000 to the walk!! Together with what was raised online with all the teams, and what was brought in, and what will be coming in soon, it totals to about $28,409!!!! That's AWESOME!!! The most our walk has EVER done!! BIG THANK YOU to all the teams for raising so much!!

Our A Cure 4 Lil' Chris team brought in $10,195 so far!!! OUTSTANDING!!! THANK YOU ALL!!! We will still be collecting donations until Sept, so hopefully we can do some more fundraisers and hit $30,000!! THANK YOU EVERYONE SOOOOO MUCH!!! I'm sorry if I didn't get to talk to everyone at the walk...as you could see, it's kind of a crazy day for me making sure everything runs smoothly;) Our CF Northern Ohio Chapter, which is a total of 7 different walks, raised a total of $652,108!!! I smell a cure coming!!:)
 BIG THANKS to the Lord for the beautiful weather and no rain!! Thank You for answering our prayers, b/c it was supposed to rain that day.

We are having a big community garage sale this Sat from 8am-4pm and everything sold from our house will go towards a CURE for CF!! The other houses in our neighborhood are selling baked good for CF!! We just love our neighbors:) They have always been such big supporters of Lil' Chris!!

 

 

I started a new business called It Works! They are those crazy skinny wraps that everyone is talking about that work in just 45 minutes:) I tried them, and they ACTUALLY DO WORK!! So, I decided to spread the word about them to help out other people. I will be selling them at my garage sale too, and a percentage will go towards a cure for Cystic Fibrosis!! I originally started this company with intent to have all my commission go towards CF, but then my husband ended up losing his job 10 days later, so not all will go towards CF, but most of it will:) Come see me if you want to try one!! Message or email me for address lilcmom@gmail or you can order straight from my website www.wraps4cf.com. I've been doing pretty well, b/c the results sell the products, not me:) If you'd like to join my team and be debt free, let me know. It's only $99 to join and you get a box of wraps that you can sell for $100...so you earn your money right back!! Now is the time to join, b/c this company is skyrocketing, esp with Summer approaching:)

I'm sure I forgot about someone to thank, but please know that we GREATLY APPRECIATE EVERYONE and EVERY PENNY RAISED!!!!

We hope to see everyone again at our walk next year!!!
M
PS. Lil' Chris didn't have the best last CF clinic apt. He didn't gain any weight, CFers need to eat lots of calories to stay healthy. He has his annual CF clinic apt this coming Wed, so I will let you know how it goes. Pray for great results all around, b/c our Make A Wish trip is coming up soon!!! YEA!!

4th Annual Great Strides Walk was a SUCCESS!!!

Our big 4th Annual Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis was this past Sunday and it was AMAZING!! We had about 150+ walkers and raised about $20,000 dollars!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Our first year we only had about 50 walkers and only raised about $5,000...I'm so happy how our walk has grown and multiplied!! The more walkers=more money raised=the closer we are to a CURE!!! :) 

Our first year, everyone was able to stand under the pavilion and I would just stand on a table to talk, but this year there were so many walkers, that the only thing that would work was the loud speaker from the Ambulance:) And then Officer Cruz was nice enough to start the walk off with his siren! That was pretty cool! Maybe next year I'll see if Lil' Chris can push the button, that would be neat:)

This year was the first year I had to do all the announcements and everything, b/c Nate from the foundation had to go to another walk. I didn't mind doing it, but I felt bad that I wasn't more prepared. I got up there and completely went blank on a lot of our sponsors:( Next year I will def make a list and be sure to mention all of our sponsors!! So... since I can't go back in time and add them to what I said...I'll just mention them now on my blog(please feel free to share this blog post;) lol....

BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS...
Panera Bread donated 100 yummy bagels. THANKS JESSICA!!!
Domino's on Burbank donated 25 yummy pizza's. THANKS VIC!!!!
McDonald's on Burbank donated 30 cheese burgers and french fries. THANKS LINDA and CHRISTIE!!!
Kohl's in New Philly, Medina, and Wooster=$1,500 for the day of the walk!!! WOOHOO!! By Sept, Kohl's will have donated about $7,000 total, and that's just OUR team, not all over the country!! Gotta love Kohl's!!!! If you don't shop Kohl's now.....you gotta start!! They raise millions for Cystic Fibrosis!!!
Wooster Christian School team had 8 different families that were there supporting Lil' Chris:) THANKS EVERYONE!!!
Preferred Wireless Sprint in Wooster
Verizon Wireless on Milltown Rd in Wooster
Wayne Savings Community Bank in Wooster
Starmark Farm in Wooster
General Building Maintance Corp. 
An anonymous $250 sponsor
The Faithful Little Cupcake
Feikert Concrete
Uncle Jim's Pepper Mustard
Pat Catan's
MCTV
Akron Aeros
Buehler's
Wooster Fire Dept
Wooster Police Dept
Samaritan Care Ambulance
Dr. Dave and his AMAZING balloon animals:)
Carrie G-Thirty-One
Stephanie W.-Arbonne
Lu Ann Miller
Phyllis and Reed Seiberling
Tim and Jessica Corbett
Kathi Bond

Overall, we had a BEAUTIFUL day for our walk, a little windy when I was trying to tape down all the prizes and when we all were trying to put up our canopies, but still a gorgeous day!! 

BIG THANK YOU to my fellow CF moms Samantha, Denna, and Alma for all their help!! Denna made little goody bags for all the kids, and made BEAUTIFUL signs for all the CF kids so the walkers could read a little bit about who they were walking for and why. Samantha got LOTS of prizes and I'm happy to say that I actually ran out of raffle tickets!!! That's the first time EVER!!! I still had stuff to give away, but there were no more names in the bucket!! WOW!!! That's awesome!! Thank you Alma and team for all the yummy cookies!!

BIG THANK YOU to Nate for bringing and setting everything all up, and to everyone else who helped out in setting up too...my husband, Spencer, Oma, Opa, Jessie, and Kevin!! I was so thankful that Kevin volunteered to take pictures with his awesome camera this year!! THANK YOU KEVIN, you're the BEST!!! I will post the pictures when I get them:)

THANK YOU to our CFers who we walked for...Lil' Chris, Daniel, Jack, Aden, Sophia, and Aubrey!! You guys did a GREAT JOB wearing your Hawaiian leis the whole time and staying away from each other, because of the risk of cross contamination!! So proud of you all!!

SPECIAL THANK YOU to all who walked for "A Cure 4 Lil' Chris!!" I would name you all, but there were so many, about 80!! That's AWESOME!!!;) We had lots of family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and  classmates!! I'm sorry I didn't get to go around and talk more with you all. You all brought tears to my eyes with how many showed up just for Lil' Chris!! We can't thank you all enough for giving up a Sunday to walk, and for all your generous donations!! 

BIG THANK YOU to my sister and her kids for driving all the way from NC to walk for Lil' Chris:) We had so much fun at the walk, at Put-in-Bay, and Acres of Fun mini golf!! Can't wait to see you guys again!!

Thanks again everyone who walked, donated, or sponsored our walk!! It sure was a SUCCESS!!! More pictures coming soon!!! :)
M
PS. Update on Lil' Chris' CF clinic visit this last Wednesday coming soon!!

Best Teacher / CF Walk Update / Thank You!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. FALKENBERG!!!

It was a privilege to be a part of Lil' Chris' teachers birthday! 

She is such a wonderful woman! She gets the Teacher of the Year Award from me;) She really loves and cares for Lil' Chris:) She made a collection jar for CF and has been talking it up all year to collect change for CF! The jar is getting very heavy;)

She also has been talking up our CF walk coming up in just 2 weeks! We now have 7 families coming from the Wooster Christian School just to support Lil' Chris!!  

That's AWESOME!!! 

This is going to be our biggest and best walk yet!! Normally we have about 75 total walkers with all teams combined...this year I have about 80 just for A Cure 4 Lil' Chris team!!! That's def a GREAT feeling to have all the wonderful support!! :) I think I might have to get with Domino's about ordering more pizza's! I'm praying that they will still donate all of them:)

We have doubled our teams too! In the past we had 3 teams at our walk, Lil' Chris, Daniel, and Jack. Now we have 3 more teams! Aden, Aubrey, and Sophia!   
I'm sure we all have mixed feelings about having more teams...on one hand we love it that our walk is getting bigger and bigger, but on the other hand...that means more kids were diagnosed with this horrible disease known as Cystic Fibrosis:(
But I'm very glad to see that these wonderful CF parents are taking an active interest in their child's health by getting out there and raising money and awareness for a CURE!!! 

TOGETHER, WE WILL MAKE CF STAND FOR CURE FOUND!!!  

Thank you everyone who has signed up to walk and/or donated!! We can't thank you all enough!! 
If you haven't donated yet and would like to, just click the Great Strides Logo in the upper right hand of this blog and then "click to donate" or click "join my team" to register to be a walker:) Let me know if you have any questions!

HUGE THANK YOU to Carrie G and Stephanie W for doing the Thirty-One and Arbonne CF Fundraisers!! We raised a total of $1,350!!!! WOOHOO!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO BOUGHT SOMETHING FROM THESE 2 FUNDRAISERS:) WE GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!! AND THANK YOU CARRIE AND STEPHANIE FOR DONATING YOUR COMMISSION!! YOU GIRLS ROCK!! BIG THANK YOU TO MY KOHL'S TEAM FOR HELPING OUT AND GETTING US THE $1,000 GRANT!!
 If anybody wants to do a Thirty-One party or Arbonne party, let me know and I will hook you up with these amazing girls:)

BIG THANK YOU to Verizon on Milltown for sponsoring us!! You guys are AWESOME!! Look forward to seeing you at the walk!! :)

Thanks, 
M
PS. I have about 5 other posts all started, but not finished yet...big news coming soon...and more than just one;o

2013 CF Commercial / Fundraisers close this Thurs

Above is our 2013 commercial for our CF Great Strides Walk for a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!!! I hope to double the amount of people and double the amount of money raised this year!!! If you haven't signed up to walk yet, click here to sign up under my team "A Cure 4 Lil' Chris," or you can make your own team and be a team leader! Let me know if you have any questions!


Here was last years commercial we made...


This year is our 4th annual walk for CF here in Wooster. I can't believe it's been that long already!! I still can't believe that Lil' Chris will be 6 years old one month after the walk!!! 50+ years ago, kids with CF never made it age 5 or 6...and here we are with a very energetic, happy, healthy little CF boy:) I can't thank those who donate and walk with us enough to show how much it really does mean to our family and all families that suffer from CF. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! WE ARE SOOOOO CLOSE TO A CURE!!! WE WILL GET THERE WITH YOUR HELP!!

If you can't walk with us, but would like to donate, click here to donate in honor of Lil' Chris:) Thank you sooooo much!!

So everyone knows, my 2 CF fundraisers from last week, Thirty-One party and Arbonne party, will remain open until this Thursday 3/14!! A percentage of every purchase will go towards a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!! Here are the links...

To purchase some awesome Thirty-One bags, click this link...https://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/catalog.aspx?eventId=E2826354&from=DIRECTLINK

To purchase some awesome all natural hair, skin, make-up, and nutrition products, click this link and respond to the invite, put your name and email in, then click "shop online"...https://www.arbonne.com/cm/a/external/invitation/showInvitation?presentationId=720035&attend=N&language=en&country=US&guestId=4358453#

We are hoping to raise at least $250 from each party + the $500 from Kohl's for each party equals to $1500!! We CAN do it!!

Thanks,
M

2012 Great Strides Totals / TOBI Update

Totals are in for 2012 fundraising...our walk raised $16,800 for a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!!! WOOHOO!!! We've come a long way since our first walk where we raised like under $5,000 I think:) Each year we raise more and more for a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis and I can't THANK YOU ALL enough!!! It means soooo much to all us CF families!!!

Our A Cure 4 Lil' Chris team raised $6,967!! WOOHOO!!! That's awesome!! My calculations were over $7,000, but one of the Kohl's grants took longer than I thought and actually is on my new 2013 Great Strides Walk page:) That's ok, I'm starting off with a bang!! Although had I realized, I would've put in the extra $33 to put us at $7,000 ;-) LOL Oh well! Here is my link for 2013, who's gonna be my first sponsor? Remember, it's 100% tax deductible...

http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/LilChrisChris6765

Yesterday we had a GREAT 1st meeting to kick off the new fundraising year and start getting ready for the walk this May 5th, 2013 at 11am!!! I'm really excited about this year, b/c we have 2 new committee members who are really motivated to not only have a great walk, but most importantly raise as much money as possible for a CURE for our little ones and all CFers. Big THANK YOU  to Samantha and Denna for being so passionate about a CURE and wanting to help in any way!! 

Samantha has a 9 month old CFer named Aubrey. She is the cutest lil' thing:) She was diagnosed at 3 months old. Her older sister, Makayla, went to preschool with Lil' Chris:) I wish they could hang out more often since we live so close, but it makes it hard having cfers in both families as we have to be careful of cross-contamination:(

Denna has a 9 year old son named Aden with CF and another son without CF named Alex. Aden was just diagnosed a little over a year ago. Denna has a great outlook on becoming a committee member, "It'll be good for not only myself but also Aden and Alex. Just for them to learn that no matter how small the contribution, every person can make a difference." Together, the 5 of us...Denna, Samantha, Alma, Kathy, and myself...can and will make a BIG difference!! :) Denna has already jumped in and has started getting things going for the walk and it's only been one day!! And Samantha has already gotten prizes for the walk and has done a few fundraisers already!! I'm soooo proud of these 2 ladies and proud to have them on our committee:) It's gonna be a GREAT Year!!

BIG THANK YOU TO NANCY, my sister D's mother-in-law, for doing a Yankee Candle fundraiser for CF and raising $267.60!!! WOW!!! That's AWESOME!! The cool thing is...I didn't even ask Nancy to do this, SHE came to me with the idea!! I LOVE her passion for a CURE for CF!!! Nancy has always been a BIG supporter of Lil' Chris and has donated each year and is always thinking of new ways to raise money for a CURE!! I can't THANK YOU enough, Nancy!! We love you!!

As for a CF update on Lil' Chris...his TOBI should be arriving today on our doorstep. This will be his 2nd time on TOBI and Cipro. We have had the Cipro for a few days now, but we had to wait until the TOBI got here to start it, b/c they have to be taken together. If he cultures Pseudomonas again after this next 28 days of treatment, then he will be on just TOBI, not Cipro and TOBI, every other month:'( Please pray this doesn't happen. If it does, then we'll take it one day at a time. 

WE NEED A CURE NOW!!!!!!! They are soooo close with the new drug Kalydeco combo. Lil' Chris just needs to stay as healthy as possible until it gets done Phase 3 and clinical trials, and gets approved by the FDA. Please pray this is a CURE or a better control of the lung issues associated with CF!

Thanks everyone,
M  
PS. Happy Birthday to a faithful blog reader, Kevin W.!!! Hope you have a great day!!! ;)

TOBI is All Done / CF Fundraiser!!

WOOHOO!!! TOBI ended yesterday!!! When Lil' Chris did his Vest this morning, it was so weird not doing any breathing treatments with it!! That's the first time in 28 days, which seems like we've done it from day one! LOL

HE didn't even notice, but inside I was super excited!! I even got to set my alarm a little bit later, which was soooo nice with all the crazy hours I've been working lately!

Some parents have a little celebration when their kids finish TOBI, but I didn't do that with Lil' Chris. I just didn't want to bring any attention to it, since he did so well with it. I feel like if I celebrate it being done, then the next time he has to do it, he might not want to. IDK.

The one I really wanted to celebrate being done was the Cipro!! That was a pain him not being able to have any dairy products 2 hours before or after the pills! He didn't like that either, but he understood and cooperated. He really is such a good kid!!!!!!!! Except....he DID hide 5 of his Cipro pills under the toy box in the living room!

My husband found them when he went to put up the Christmas tree. My husband yelled at him and then when I got home from work, I yelled at him too. I know he only did it b/c he didn't like the chalkiness of the pill. He's used to the capsule type from his enzymes and Prevacid, or the gel tab type from his Aquadek vitamin pill. BUT, I couldn't let him go on thinking that doing stuff like that is okay. After I yelled at him, I gave him a hug and then explained to him how important it is that he does EXACTLY what the doctors tell him to do. It's only for his own good and to help him get better or not get any worse. He seemed to understand, and took the 5 pills fine over the next few days.

I tried to tell him to put it UNDER his tongue like I do with my chalky lactaid pills, but he kept saying "Then how do I swallow them?" I tried telling him that when he takes a drink, they will float to the top and go down easy and they never touch the tongue and he never has to "taste" them. He couldn't understand how they would float with the liquid, so he continued to make us put the pill on the back of his tongue...practically gagging on it...and then he would swallow it. He never tried it my way, but I don't care as long as he takes them and doesn't hide them again!!

I called the CF clinic and we go back on the 17th to get another culture done to see if the Pseudomonas is gone or not. It will just be a culture visit, but if he starts a cough before then, he will be seen by his dr. Please pray that the TOBI and Cipro worked so that he doesn't have to do them again in 28 days!! As of right now...NO COUGH!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!

Also, please pray for our dear friend Stacy A. She has Bronchiectasis, which is like the sister disease to CF...the same lung issues, but with no digestive issues. She was just admitted to the hospital and just got an IV and may have to get a PICC tomorrow. Please pray she gets well soon so she can get her PFT's back up where they belong so she won't be so short of breath, and so she can return to work. We miss her at Kohl's!! WE LOVE YOU STACY!!! STAY STRONG AND GET WELL SOON!!!

The CF fundraiser the other day went GREAT!! It was so much fun!! BIG THANK YOU to Carrie G for suggesting CF be the cause!! And BIG THANK YOU to each of the 6 different parties for doing a raffle for CF!! And BIG THANK YOU to Deborah for letting us do it at her Garden Market for free!! And BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came and supported CF(It was great getting to talk to Mary, Daniel's mom)!! And one more BIG THANK YOU to my fellow Kohl's associates (Kim S, Roberta, Jolleen, and Cheyenne) for volunteering to do the event to get the $500 for a CURE for CF!! WOOHOO!! I believe that makes $5,000 raised for CF this year alone from Kohl's!!! Gotta love Kohl's...especially this holiday season as they are giving away one FREE purchases EVERY DAY at EVERY STORE and ONLINE from now til Christmas Eve!!! I LOVE working for a company who helps the community out as much as Kohl's does, esp when they let me give away the free purchase...BEST FEELING EVER!!! BIGGEST THANK YOU TO KOHL'S!!!
Thanks,
M
PS. We got our Christmas pics taken tonight, so be on the look out for them over the next couple weeks!!! They all turned out soooooo cute!!! If you would like a Christmas card, let me know!! I know Lil' Chris likes getting pics of other CF kids too:)