NASCAR driver and team owner Kevin Harvick is sponsoring "Fast Lane to a Cure," a series of fundraising events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation during May 16 - 20. There will be a dinner with silent and live auctions, a NASCAR truck race in which the CF logo will be on the truck and fans can make pledges per lap, a raffle to win the specially designed and autographed helmet worn during the race. Every penny of the proceeds from these events will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. When I first heard of CF, I was in high school. One of my classmates had the disease, she was sick a lot and in and out of the hospital. I remember being told that if she made it to age 20 she would be lucky. She was very smart, the valedictorian of our class, with a great outlook for the future. After graduation, she headed off to college, wanting to become a doctor. She died in her early 20s, while still in college.
Around 1978, when we were a young married couple, some friends of ours had just had a baby. When we went to visit them, they told us that the little boy had CF. He was just a few months old. They had seen a commercial on TV telling folks to 'kiss your baby and if he tastes salty, have him checked for CF." This is how they discovered it so early. The life expectancy then was early 20s. He is now 27 and working on a ranch in Wyoming.
I heard recently on the news that the life expectancy for CF had doubled what it was 20 years ago, it is now 36 years. Hopefully with continued research for a cure, our friend will live a full life and grow old. He has already done what most of us only think about, he followed his dream and is doing what he loves every day.
Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day.
