To Our CF Families and Friends,
 

Maybe like you, we have many traditions with our Pelican extended family. One favorite is a trip we take every summer to a wilderness cabin in Colorado where we fish and hike for a few days. Steve’s dad visited this area as a child, fishing with his dad 90 years ago. Steve has fished and hiked there for over 70 years. Since Sam and Libby were born, we’ve only missed one year of this tradition when they were both hospitalized. 
 

When Sam and Libby were young, the trip would typically prompt us to worry how long the tradition would continue. In years when they weren’t well, we had IV drugs delivered to us to administer in this remote location. We worried about the elevation and whether their young lungs would be strong enough for the higher altitudes in coming years. Would the mile long hike to the “eating tree” where we’d stop for lunch be too much for them? Would the dust on the trail where horses often trekked be a threat to their tender lungs? Would one or both succumb to cystic fibrosis as predicted at age 18 or 20 and they’d no longer be with us at all? The worrisome view into their future (that we lived with every day whether at home or on vacation) cast a cloud over the joy inspired by this cherished time. 
 

Then came new drugs. New treatments were defined. Trikafta burst into our reality and stabilized lungs for Sam and Libby and thousands like them. New hope was born. New strength at higher altitudes developed. The tradition of hiking and fishing in this longtime favorite spot would be possible for years to come! As Libby says, “Trikafta is not only live-giving, it is life-saving.” 
 

We hoped, but never expected life to change like it has for Sam and Libby. We committed to fundraising even before Libby was born. We knew money was needed to better understand the disease and to discover new treatments and therapies. New medicines have dramatically changed this disease for over 40,000 Americans living with CF. Yet the new medicines do not impact all patients with CF, and for all CF patients there is still no cure. 
 

You have helped to bring about this miraculous change with dollars you have previously donated. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This year it is your chance to help fund more discoveries and make new treatments available to everyone fighting CF. Please make your gift today using the form below. 

Additionally, the Cushman Neal Foundation has made a $120,000 gift to the Rocky Mountain Chapter's Annual Fund and challenges our community to raise an additional $120,000 by making gifts between $1 and $9,999 before December 31, 2023 to help in the fight against CF. 
 

You can bring sunshine to family traditions and so much more for those living with cystic fibrosis. Help strengthen lungs and enrich life for all CF patients. You can make traditions a reality for the thousands of patients here and worldwide. Know that your dollars will surely make life changing differences. We will not stop. Please stay in this fight with us, until we can all say, “CF stands for Cure Found”! 

With love,
Debi and Steve