Movin' On - Movies, audio, and articles for adults living with cystic fibrosisFeatured Article:
There's No Place Like Hope
The phone call that confirms a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis is devastating for any parent to receive. Hearing that your child has a life-shortening condition can stop a heart from beating momentarily, as you digest how your life, and your child's life, will be completely different than what you had envisioned.
Dramatic strides
The history of cystic fibrosis, however, holds promise and hope for the future. When the genetic disorder was first discovered in the 1930s, it killed 80 percent of the children born with it before their first birthday. As recently as 1970, the life expectancy for a person with CF was only 12 years. Today, the median life expectancy of people with CF is 36.8 years.
Researchers discovered the defective gene that leads to cystic fibrosis in 1989, when the median life expectancy was only 25 years. The Federal Drug Administration didn't approve the first drug developed specifically for CF until 1993; and, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, there are currently more than two dozen CF-specific therapies in the research pipeline.
The rapid advances made in the last 50 years in the fight against CF can't erase your child's or loved one's diagnosis, but it can offer peace of mind that the best and brightest scientists in CF research are working towards increasing life expectancy and, hopefully, one day finding a cure.
CF Timeline: A Continuum Of Hope*
- *Sources
- U.S. Respiratory disease, 2006; Susana A. McColley, MD; Division Head, Pulmonary Medicine; Director, Cystic Fibrosis Center; Associate Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicine, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago
- Genetic Disease Profile: Cystic Fibrosis; NIH Publication No. 95-3560, 2002; Human Genome Project Web Site
- Diagnosing and Treating Genetic Diseases, Journal of NIH Research, Nov-Dec. 1989; Celia Hooper
- About Cystic Fibrosis, Drug Development Pipeline, and Living with CF sections; Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Website
- Cystic Fibrosis Since 1938; 2006, Pamela B. Davis, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol. 173, Iss. 5; pg. 475
