Cheriz: My life with Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk: Saturday, June 25 th was the 3 rd Annual Great Strides CF Walk. It was a really fun day and I'm so fortunate to have so many people that truly care about furthering the CF Foundation's Mission! Each year the walk grows in activities and fun! We had more raffles and silent auctions than ever before. 20 silent auctions & 10 raffles. Subway in Henry, IL donated all the sandwiches, Sullivans donated the chips, and Dave Huseman donated all the water. We had Unique Twist create balloon animals and Chariss Hoffman did face painting. T Entertainment donated their time to DJ our event  and had a jam sale too. Teams walked 1 miles around the loop at the park. All the sponsors & donors were listed on the banner :-) make sure to thank them and show their businesses some love! Overall, the teams raised more than they did in the past. Our walk raised $11,750 on Saturday. While this is quite a bit lower than the $23,000 we raised last yea...

"You are so lucky you are so skinny" "Must be nice to eat anything you want" "Wish I could keep my weight down like you" "You're so tiny and childlike" "You could be in high school still" "Wow you're thirty, you look 16" or hearing these replies: When I say I need to gain weight , "huh, Give you some of mine" Always hearing I'm "cute or adorable," never hearing I'm "beautiful or sexy". All these things can really hurt my feelings. But let me explain further where this post is coming from. Today a friend shared on Facebook about how some posts are body shaming & lots of people don't realize it.  I hear lots of people say things like " I'm not afraid to eat a hamburger. A man likes some curves." Or I hear remarks how all people who are size 0-2 are unrealistic and anorexic, etc. I understand a lot of times people may mean to help boost...

Fundraisers & More : Yesterday was a great day! Andrew and I attended the Suzanna Lee Memorial Silver Cup Challenge, Golf Outing for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It is one of the Peoria CFF Chapter's yearly events and this year was the Golf Outing's 15th year! Everyone arrives around 11am for the grilled outdoor lunch before Tee time starts at noon. The Golfers are out for 4 hours golfing, some of the holes have competitions at them (like longest putt). During the golfing volunteers help set up the banquet dinner hall. There are over 100 silent auctions, chocolate fountain, hors d'oeuvres, followed by the dinner served between 5:30-6:30pm. Andrew loved golfing and I enjoyed helping set up the silent auctions. I was the speaker this year and was very honored to the speaking about my life with Cystic Fibrosis. The Golf Outing was started 15 years ago in memory of Suzanna Lee (a girl who went to my CF Clinic and was from Peoria). Her parents host it every year and...