NEIGHBORS: Progress made for cystic fibrosis; fundraiser planned Oct. 27

Published 9:15 am Thursday, October 18, 2018

Maddie Luke is an adorable 8-year-old little girl with beautiful hazel eyes who loves playing with her friend Hollyn, her dog Charlie, dancing with the Clarkdale Bulldog Beauties, cheerleading, making slime and spending time with her family.

Maddie also is a little girl with cystic fibrosis.

Maddie’s type of cystic fibrosis affects her lungs and digestive system. Because of this, she doesn’t digest proteins and fats and has to take enzymes to improve digestion. She swallows more than 140 pills a week to treat her cystic fibrosis, fighting bacteria infections that can take months to go away and undergoing breathing treatments at least twice a day to loosen the buildup of mucus in her lungs.

Maddie’s parents, Ashley Loper and Jordy Luke learned that Maddie had cystic fibrosis just two weeks after her birth, plunging into a world of breathing treatments, medicine, and appointments with doctors. Because of the lack of awareness Maddie’s family started organizing fun runs, 5K races, and more to raise money for a cure for cystic fibrosis. One is coming up at the end of the month.

Two years ago through research, the drug Orkambi was discovered for treating the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, Loper said. It is the very first drug out for Maddie’s gene type.

“In these past two years since being on this drug she has shown tremendous improvement,” Loper said. “We go back to the doctor in November so we will see. Before that, we were taking pills just to treat the side effect of what cystic fibrosis caused. Now we have a pill that actually treats the underlying cause of it, not just the side effects. 

“This is why we do what we do.”

Over the course of eight years, Maddie has done 11,972 breathing treatments; spent 32 days in the hospital; spent 3,060 hours on her vest, and has taken 58,240 pills. 

Team Maddie along with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host “Shine a Light On Cystic Fibrosis” at Lazy Acres Plantation, Chunky on Saturday, Oct. 27.

• Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. Walk/Glow Run begins at 7 p.m.

• Donate/Collect $25 to get one event t-shirt and one entry to Lazy Acres.

• Team Maddie Silent Auction 6-8 p.m.

• Pumpkin carving contest, fireworks and more.

Organizers encourage people to form teams and wear Halloween costumes or a business/office t-shirt. There will be a “Lunch for the Biggest Bunch” to be delivered the week following the event from Chicken Salad Chick for the biggest team.

For information, call 601-981-3100 or 601-938-9441 or visit https://shinealightoncf.passioncff.org/

Since 2012 the fundraiser has raised nearly $179,000 for the foundation.

Cheryl Owens writes the Neighbors column for The Meridian Star. Submit items to cowens@themeridianstar.com.