Confessions of a CF Husband

I wanted to take a moment today to share a blog that I've been following for a while now--we have a link to it on the side of this blog. It's an AMAZING story about a man, Nate, and his wife Tricia and the journey they've been on for the past year (well, they've been on the journey for longer than that but the past year is the part I've been reading).

A brief synopsis of their story: Tricia was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. For anyone reading this who doesn't know anything about Cystic Fibrosis, it is a genetic disease that causes mucus to build up in organs (especially the lungs), inhibiting the ability to breathe and resulting in deadly infections. There is no cure for CF and many people die young from the disease. Tricia and Nate married and she harbored a secret wish to have a baby. However, her health was declining and they were beginning to prepare for a double-lung transplant when she found out she was pregnant. Because her lung functions were so compromised, carrying the baby was extremely risky. In January, Gwyneth Rose was born at 24+4 weeks gestation--weighing just 1 lb 6 ozs! In the months that followed, miraculously, Tricia received her lung transplant and baby Gwyneth beat the odds and was discharged from the NICU and is now growing at home with her daddy, mommy and mommy's new lungs.

This story is one of courage, amazing faith, and hope. Through all of the ups and downs, Nate has faithfully shared his story with the world and their attitudes toward their journey has been humbling, to say the least. These are people who, instead of bemoaning their circumstances are on a mission to educate people about CF, premature birth, and their faith in God.

I started following this story when I was pregnant with Jack and during times when I was scared and unsure of how things were going to turn out, when it seemed like we got a lot of bad news at our prenatal visits, their story refocused my faith and reminded me that the greatest miracles happen with you relinquish control and turn it over to God. When Jack was born early, as we had anticipated, I knew some of the things to expect from the NICU stay from their experiences.

Since I've been reading this for so long, and have benefitted from the story, we felt led to help the CF cause and donate to Nate and Tricia's team for the Great Strides (CF) Walk. I encourage anyone reading this to read their story and try to help them meet their goal.

Thanks for sharing your story with the world, Nate!