A Cystic Fibrosis Fitness Challenge for Fundraising

Everyone remembers the ice bucket challenge for ALS, but now there is a new challenge sweeping everyone’s newsfeeds for a good cause. It is called "Lunges4Lungs" where participants take a video of themselves doing lunges to raise awareness for cystic fibrosis, and call on their friends to do the same.

It was all inspired by one brave cystic fibrosis patient and her friends while she was waiting to receive a double transplant.

About Mallory

Mallory Smith is a 24-year-old cystic fibrosis patient who was inspired by the stress of the waiting period for a lung transplant to start the "Lunges4Lungs" campaign with some of her friends.

When she was three years old, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and has been battling it ever since. At the time, the life expectancy was only 22 for those with cystic fibrosis, but now Mallory has beat that by two years and many other patients are living well into their forties. Due to medication and transplants, life expectancy is always increasing. However, because a defective CF gene results in mucus that clogs the lungs and traps bacteria, causing infections, Smith has lived with a cough and fights infections constantly. She has had to take 41 medications every day as well as home health services, an oxygen concentrator, and antibiotics via IV.

As an adult, when meeting her you would have never known about the battle she's fighting, she seemed like the typical recent graduate of Stanford. She earned a degree in biology while focusing on environmental anthropology. She enjoyed spending time outdoors, doing sports, and seeing her friends, boyfriend, and family. She never let cystic fibrosis define her, and was even a crucial player on her high school volleyball and water polo team.

However, her close friends and followers of her hit CF blog knew that Mallory had been on the list for a transplant for a long time. Unfortunately, the number of patients who need a transplant due to the disease is so high that the waiting is known to increase. Mallory even had to endure three false alarms for new lungs.

Smith explained how difficult being on the waitlist is, saying that the experience is a mix of being prepared for surgery at the drop of a dime, but also being ready to wait for years. However, she explained that there is more risk associated with it, "you're trading one disease for another. You're trading having CF to being immune-compromised." Occasionally complications known to be common with lung transplants can even be fatal, as they body's immune system may react by attacking the new set of lungs, and patients may be especially susceptible to major infections.

These fears were especially present for Mallory, as her lungs had a resistant strain of bacteria, increasing the potential for infection. However, she emphasized the need to live your life and take each task as it comes, as it is crucial not to lose hope.

She also notes that Lunges4Lungs along with her friends while on the waitlist kept her busy and inspired, which was crucial.

Read on to learn more about Mallory and Lunges4Lungs.

Photo source: Cystic Fibrosis News Today