A Mothers Fight: 6-Year-Old Sioux Falls Girl Fights Cystic Fibrosis
I awake each morning with a heaviness, a pit in my stomach feeling that something is wrong, something is looming. Like insurmountable debt or a looming termination, except it is a person, and she is a living breathing part of me that lies peacefully upstairs. As consciousness seeps in and the sleepy fog has lifted, I am reminded of the weight on my chest that slowly crushes my peaceful state...a feeling that never really leaves me. My daughter is a warrior. She is my hero and she is racing against time. (excerpt from a blog post written by Emily Janssen Petoske CF mom of 6 year old, Reese.)
The smiling photo of 6-year-old Reese first grabbed my attention while I was reading the blog written by her mom Emily. I called Emily to find out more about her story and about Reese.
Reese is into all the things most 6-year-old girls are focused on: Barbies, jumping rope and waiting for the release of the next Frozen movie. At 10-ten-days old Reese was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Her mom Emily shared these words with me:
"Because Reese's fight with Cystic Fibrosis never ends, neither does ours."
May is Cystic Fibrosis awareness month and like most awareness months dedicated to bringing awareness to a cause or a cure, the cause or cure aren't framed neatly into a calendar event they are constant, it is daily, a 365 day fight.
If I could invite you to do something for five minutes to hop into the fight with Reese and many other people around the world with CF. Just as a start read the rest of her moms blog post here. And if you decide it's something you'd like to help this smiling warrior with in more ways take a look here.
And Reese I look forward to walking along side of you this weekend, and you can add one more adult to the growing list of people who look up to you.