My Nonprofit Reviews

Once upon a time a little princess was born to her loving parents. She was breathtakingly beautiful with ruby red lips curled into a smile, creamy skin, wavy dark brown hair, long legs, and tiny hands with the most perfect little fingers. Life was perfect! The princess was taken home and for the first month, life in the kingdom was a bit unsettled. The little princess was hungry all the time, wasn't gaining weight, and never slept much. Her worried parents sought the advice of the royal physician. "All is well with our princess," he declared. "She just needs more to eat. You must give her some formula." At that time, the royal physician did not even entertain the thought that the princess was truly ill, and that her symptoms were consistent with Cystic Fibrosis. She was simply too healthy! Her parents added formula to her breast milk diet and soon the little princess wasn't crying much, but she was still eating all the time and gaining weight slowly. Over the next 20 months, life was delightful for the princess and her parents. She grew, slowly, into a chubby-cheeked toddler who doted on Pumpkin Bear, her beloved brown teddy bear, and she brought joy, laughter and love to all who knew her. The princess, at age 22 months, seemed to be thriving until one day when she fell ill with gastrointestinal problems. A dark cloud covered the kingdom while her worried parents anxiously awaited the results of a 'sweat test' -- a test that the royal physician ordered to determine if the lovely little princess had Cystic Fibrosis. When the test came back positive, the kingdom was drowning in tears shed for their precious princess because her parents had been told she would be lucky to live to be 5 years old. "That cannot be" her parents declared. They devoted themselves to giving their princess the best care possible. Her fifth birthday came and went and the princess was healthy in spite of the dire prediction by the specialist. The kingdom celebrated joyously and they gathered in Monterey to watch their darling princess ride one of the most exquisite horses in the CFRI Parade of Champions. The beautiful and kind princess has grown and married, and at almost 29 years old, she has celebrated many happy and healthy years punctuated by some very bleak years where she had a liver transplant at age 12 due to Cystic Fibrosis killing her liver, followed by several years of life-threatening lung infections brought on by taking the immuno-suppresion drugs needed to prevent her body from rejecting her liver. These necessary drugs enabled deadly opportunistic bacteria and fungus to grow in her CF lungs. Life was grim for many years. With the advice and support her parents started receiving from CFRI when the princess was 4 years old, her parents became knowledgeable about their daughter's disease and skilled at navigating the medical world so their princess could live a long and healthy life. For nearly 25 years, the princess and her parents have been involved in a supportive and caring lifeline relationship with CFRI. Throughout the years, the staff and other families with children afflicted with CF who also consider themselves part of the caring community created by CFRI, have always been available to discuss the latest treatment options, to provide general CF education materials/conferences/discussions, and to provide that much-needed shoulder to lean on in times of crisis. CFRI has created a true community of compassionate, caring and knowledgeable individuals, medical professionals, volunteers, staff, and board who are fiercely dedicated to providing education, research, advocacy, and support to individuals with CF and their families. CFRI reaches out to those in need - always providing pertinent health education materials, referrals, and answers. They provide seed money for cutting edge research aimed at developing new drug therapies and ultimately a cure for this life-shortening genetic disease; and they do all of this with a small staff and without a large expense budget. Their financial commitment to CF research and education is remarkable. With the guidance of their dedicated executive director, Carroll Jenkins, CFRI is solid financially and growing thoughtfully and strategically so that they can meet the needs of the CF community. CFRI is truly a GREAT Nonprofit!

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