CF Fundraising - 2025 - 16th year!


This is my 16th year raising money to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis. I do this in memory of my friend, Tara, who passed away on November 18, 2017. 

I know there are a lot of deserving causes to champion. Every little bit adds up and, while I hope you support CF research, I really just want all of us to make the world a better place.
 
Tara was full of positivity, throughout her life - throughout her illnesses, hospital stays, medications, pain and discomfort. She made the world feel a little brighter. She is a reminder that life is precious - life is short - and everything is going to be OK ... have hope.
 
Today I am asking for:
 
1) Please consider making a donation to the Tara K Telford Graduate Student Award for Cystic Fibrosis Research at UC Davis. You can do this online from the following link. Please let me know that you have donated to this fund so I can properly thank you. I will not receive a notification that you donated.      
https://give.ucdavis.edu/GRAD/150006
                     or        
Consider donating to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through our Great Strides walk (my 15th year participating - will take place in Walnut Creek on May 10) using this link (I will get a notification). You can also sign up to walk with us from this link - would be fun to have some company!
https://fundraise.cff.org/walnutcreek2025/Christina
 
2) Become an organ donor. Become a blood donor. Save a life. Who knows .... it could be yours one day. (Thomas is donating with me on his 16th birthday next month!)
 
3) If you are healthy, and I hope you are, make good choices about your body. We owe it to those who can't control their health to appreciate ours.
 
This is an update that Tara wrote in 2016. I think it makes sense to share it again.
 
To say we had a challenging year in this household could be an understatement.  It started off with so much hope as I got the call for my double lung transplant on January 1, 2016. What was supposed to be a 2-3 week recovery turned into months of hard work and uncertainty. I survived 5 months on life support followed by battles of viruses, lung infections, lung rejection, heart failure and now kidney failure. By my side through it all has been my family.
 
My donor’s name was Becky. She was 29 years old and she had an 8 year old daughter. Without her family’s selfless gift I wouldn’t be here writing to you today. Becky and her family will forever be my heroes as they saved my life this last year. 
 
Cystic Fibrosis still affects many parts of my body, but I am breathing clear, free of CF in my lungs. Professor Kurth and his team at UC Davis are still providing important research for Cystic Fibrosis. With your help they can continue this important research year after year.  Please consider making a donation so they can continue to fight CF.

A list of this year's donors can be found here:

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