Clifford-Salema said that although doctors and nurses urge the parents of children with cystic fibrosis to try to raise their kids as normally as possible, the reality is there is always a sense of fear. Children with cystic fibrosis are particularly sensitive to respiratory illnesses, and each illness can cause damage to the child's lungs that cannot be repaired. As much as you try to raise your child normally, there is always this thing in the back of your head always something you have to do. Trevor was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 4 months old, and Kate's parents found out she had the disease when she was 7 months old. Since that time, both children have had to take medications to offset the effects of the disease.
Modern medicine has, so far, come up with medications that treat only the symptoms of the disease.
Antibiotics are used to treat lung infections, and replacement vitamins and enzymes are administered to fight the effects on the digestive system. The first drug in 30 years developed exclusively for cystic fibrosis was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993, and that medication only reduced the number of respiratory infections and improved the lung function of users. Since that time, a number of new drugs have been developed, but all still only treat the symptoms of the disease. Both Clifford-Salema and Marshall, however, believe that the mapping of the human genome along with new, as yet experimental medications offer hope for a cure in the very near future. That is why this year's walk is so important, they say.