Melissa and Jim Garland are encouraging the community to help them find a cure for cystic fibrosis (CF) by joining the eighth-annual Great Strides 5K this Saturday.
Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time. Symptoms of CF include: very salty-tasting skin, persistent coughing (at times with phlegm), frequent lung infections including pneumonia or bronchitis, wheezing or shortness of breath, poor growth or weight gain in spite of a good appetite, and frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty with bowel movements.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease and those afflicted inherited two copies of the defective CF gene, one copy from each parent. Both parents must have at least one copy of the defective gene.
“Help raise awareness and funds to find a cure for cystic fibrosis,” Melissa Garland said recently. “Join us this Saturday, May 12, in Washington Court House for the Great Strides 5k walk/run at McHenry Field on Circle Avenue. The registration is 9 a.m. and the walk/run starts at 10 a.m.”
According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry, in the United States more than 30,000 people are living with CF (more than 70,000 worldwide). Approximately 1,000 new cases of CF are diagnosed each year with more than 75 percent of people with CF diagnosed by age 2. More than half of the CF population is age 18 or older.
For more information about the event, contact Chyane Collins at (740) 572-2101, Jim Garland at (740) 572-1707 or Melissa Garland at (740) 505-1819.
The information for this article was submitted by the Garlands.
