Who Doesn’t Remember Their First Job?

Each of us, I think, has memories of our first job etched in our brains. How could we not? We were young, held accountable to someone other than our parents, punctuality was actually enforced, and we made some money that was all ours!

Maureen has memories of working at Dunkin’ Donuts and wreaking of dough, raspberry filling and coffee. At the end of her shifts she left her mother no choice but to hang her uniform on the clothesline so it would not stink up her meticulous house. (I think it just made them all hungry.) I have great memories of working at the drive-in theatre having tons of fun, tireless nights and making lots of money.

Though much has changed from “our” generation to the next, kids still get jobs today. Leah (16) works at the town recreation department dealing with pre-schoolers and Theresa (14) will most likely have her first job at a local hair salon, having great experience straightening and curling hair! Deirdre (12) made the plunge this year and had the best job ever.

Deirdre recently participated in a clinical trial for cystic fibrosis (CF). She’s always wanted to do her part to accelerate the timeline for a cure or improve the quality of life for those with CF. She knows all too well what those with CF go through on a daily basis and how it affects their lives.

Comparatively speaking she’s doing fantastic versus others. She takes more than 20 pills a day, multiple inhalers and sprays, nebulizer lung treatments and each night connects herself to a machine that performs chest physiotherapy that frees her lungs of the mucus that builds up.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting the glands that produce mucus, tears, sweat, saliva and digestive juices. The most serious threat is respiratory failure caused by a thick mucus buildup that harbors bacteria which causes lung infections.

Back to the clinical trial. A new method for administering her pulmozyme was being tested to see if the completion time could be reduced from 20 minutes to approximately 2-3; doesn’t sound like much but when you do this every day it adds up quickly. During her six week study she made a couple hundred dollars!

Innovations such as this, along with the gargantuan advances of an actual cure for CF in the past couple of years, are only made possible by generous funding by people such as you.

Some consider this annual letter as an update on Deirdre though it is also an unabashed and purely intentional plea asking you to donate to CF Foundation’s annual Great Strides Walk.

Our jobs as parents are a far cry from the carefree days of working a Dunkin’ Donuts counter or picking up trash at a drive-in. We face an additional job of making sure Deirdre is provided the opportunity to live a long and healthy life not worrying about pills, inhalers and extended hospital stays. Please help us with our job – the next dollar raised could be the cure.

Thanks so much,

Peter & Maureen