Justin Shopp hopes to raise $25K for Cystic Fibrosis research in 5K walk Saturday

Nine-year-old Justin Shopp of Hampden Twp. is hoping to raise a record $25,000 Saturday in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s “Great Strides” walk in Friendship Park, Mechanicsburg. Shopp, who was diagnosed cystic fibrosis two years ago, will be walking with his team, “Justin‘s Hope,” which raised $20,000 last year. The 5K walk gets under way at 10 a.m. To contribute, click here. Last year, the foundation raised $135 million, with $43 million coming from Great Strides walks across the U.S. in May, which is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. Justin’s treatment involves taking more than 40 pills a day, and a vest treatment to break up the mucus in his lungs, and two nebulizer breathing treatments twice daily. Brad Shopp, Justin’s dad, said support from the foundation is key in supporting research into cures for cystic fibrosis. Since it afflicts only 30,000 children and young adults in the U.S. and 70,000 worldwide, Shopp said many pharmaceutical companies are not investing a lot of money into drug research. In Pennsylvania, there are 1,461 with this disease, most of them children, Shopp said. “We realized early on we had a great partner in the Foundation, as their main goal is to find better treatments and ultimately a cure for this deadly disease,“ Brad Shopp said. Pharmaceutical research has resulted in a promising drug in clinical trials that could help 85 percent of cystic fibrosis patients, Shopp said. “Kids who were so sick that they were putting off pl...
Source: Cystic Fibrosis Worldwide Blog - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Campaigns Source Type: blogs