Making a difference for cystic fibrosis

SPARTA—"Warriors for Wells" and students at Mohawk Avenue School are making a difference for 4-year-old Wells Clark and thousands of other Americans who are living with cystic fibrosis. Wells Clark, whose brother Stuart Clark is a student at Mohawk Avenue School, was just an infant when the family came up with "Warriors for Wells" as the name for their walking team. The name continues to be used for all of their fundraising efforts. To date, the 2005 Warriors for Wells fundraising campaign has raised over $47,000. This money has been raised through a combination of the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk-a-thon in May, a fundraiser held at Blessed Beginnings Preschool which generates most of the money, and the selling of bracelets. Stuart Clark and his friend Drew Harner came up with the concept of selling bracelets to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The bracelets have been sold during lunch periods at Mohawk Avenue, Sparta Middle and Sparta High schools, and through the help of many friends. Bracelet sales have raised over $820 so far. In four years, they have raised nearly $200,000 to support research towards a cure for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease affecting approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States. A defective gene causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. These thick secretions also obstruct the pancreas, preventing digestive enzymes from reaching the intestines to help break down and absorb food. The mucus also can block the bile duct in the liver, eventually causing permanent liver damage in approximately six percent of people with cystic fibrosis. More than 10 million Americans are unknowing, symptomless carriers of the defective gene. An individual must inherit a defective from each parent to have cystic fibrosis. Each time two carriers conceive, there is a 25 percent chance that their child will have cystic fibrosis; a 50 percent chance that the child will be a carrier of the gene; and a 25 percent chance that the child will be a non-carrier. For more information visit http://www.cff.org.