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Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis raises way more money than expected

Cystic Fibrosis, two tough words to say together and the two words that could change peoples lives. Cystic Fibrosis affects many Canadian children and young adults, and the worst part is, there is no cure so far.

Cystic Fibrosis, two tough words to say together and the two words that could change peoples lives.

Cystic Fibrosis affects many Canadian children and young adults, and the worst part is, there is no cure so far.

The disease affects people differently, but usually, it destroys their lungs, then eventually it leads to death for the majority of people diagnosed with the disease. Last year alone, half of the people who passed away from the disease, did not make it to the age of 35.

Sunday though, the City of North Bay and the Cystic Fibrosis North Bay chapter decided, enough was enough. They took to the waterfront and hosted the first Carstar's Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis in North Bay. There was a great turnout and a great surprise to top off the event.

The original goal was to raise $5,000 but in the end, $33, 850 was raised from the event.

Mike Croghan is the president of the Cystic Fibrosis chapter for North Bay and he was one of the first people who started the initiative. He thanked the 40 plus volunteers helping out at the event and noted that the event meant a lot to him. “I have a personal connection with Cystic Fibrosis,” said Croghan.

“My niece is Darla Bates, and her son was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when he was one year old.The doctors told the parents that you need to enjoy your time with your son, because he won't make it past the age of 10. And today here he is, he's 24 years old.”

Fighting with Cystic Fibrosis can be a long and tough road for the people who are diagnosed with the disease. It's a deadly disease and also not a well known disease.

Unlike patients who are diagnosed with diseases such as cancer, people who are diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis don't have a centre, where they can go and bond and get treated with others who have also been diagnosed. Most of them have to go online to seek help and it is also common for people who suffer from Cystic Fibrosis to be diagnosed with diabetes as well.

Another challenge that people with Cystic Fibrosis deal with is that people don't know enough about the disease and jump to conclusions about the disease.

Adele Orr is an 18 year old who's fighting Cystic Fibrosis right now and she knows all to well, what the fight is like against the disease.

As she stood on stage, she shared with the crowd some of the difficulties she's gone through personally, and she was the one who kicked off the walk!

She has lived with Cystic Fibrosis her whole life and her sister is diagnosed with the disease as well. But she's learning how to live with the disease and noted some of the barriers she's had to overcome. “It is a little bit tough,” stated Adele after her presentation on stage.

“But, you just have to go through life, like its normal. One of the biggest challenges is people not knowing what CF is and maybe a few of the prejudices who think it's contagious and won't hang out with that person who has CF. But, people generally have been very understanding once we explain that it's not contagious and that it can't affect them. And this event meant a lot. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is, that everybody's here is supporting CF. If you asked someone, what CF was 10 years ago, they would've had no idea. And because of the awareness and events like this and people like this, we're getting really really close to finding a cure.”


Tommy Wong

About the Author: Tommy Wong

Tommy has lived in North Bay for more than 2 years now, but was born in China and lived there half his life. He's passionate about sports and can be found reporting at a majority of the junior hockey games in North Bay and Powassan.
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