Thanks for reading this bit... the “why”

Well my story starts 19yrs ago with a beautiful girl who had a nasty cough and an IV line hanging out of a bandage on her arm. I didn't know a thing about Cystic Fibrosis back then, but that girl is now my wife, and over the last 19yrs we have spent a lot of time in Broad Green hospital, Anna would often need to stay in hospital for 2weeks at a time to undergo IV steroid treatment as and when her lung function would drop and she would get sick. There were some dark times where it felt like Anna was in hospital every other week, and we had to make certain life style choices. We did make some CF friends along the way though, other couples our age trying to manage life and CF just like us! Over the years Anna has had to significantly reduce her work hours and as her health deteriorated even considered medical retirement. Over the last few years Anna has really focused on her treatment, her nutrition, her medication and most of all her exercise. She has Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Osteoporosis, two dogs and a visually impaired husband, so plenty of reasons to swerve the gym!

How does this fit in with the charity and this challenge?

Well a few years ago we took up CrossFit, If you have never seen or heard of it check out the CrossFit Games on NetFlix, but in a nut shell it combines Olympic weight lifting, gymnastics and Cardio / endurance. We started going to our local CrossFit Box 3 times a week at first and nowadays 5 times per week! The impact and the results below are truly outstanding, firstly and most importantly Anna has not had to stay in hospital a single night since we started CrossFit. As a result of Cystic Fibrosis Anna also has Osteoporosis thinning her bones, and during one of Anna's coughing fits she broke two bones in her back the T7 and T8 vertebrae. Despite this injury the CrossFit coaches were able to work with Anna, and focus on what she "could" do, and find ways to build up her posterior chain and general core strength to support and protect her thinning bones. Interestingly one way to counter thinning bones is to do weight bearing exercise. Anna has what's called a Dexa scan every year to measure the rate at which her bones are thinning, imagine our surprise that after 12months of Crossfit for the first time EVER Anna's annual Dexa scan showed a slight reversal, her bones literally got thicker! However the most significant change has been her lung function, she will never get back to full capacity and will always have to struggle on with a significant reduction in lung function, the absolute mountain of medication and treatments, but she has managing to keep her lungs as clear as they can be due to all the cardio with far greater effect than the machines and physio at the CF clinic.. I am really pleased to say that Anna right now is fitter, stronger and healthier than she was at 18 or 21,  and 32 which is a significant age  as that was her life expectancy when we met. 

Anna's is an amazing story, and it’s not the only one, we want to inspire parents that have kids with CF and motivate young people with CF to prioritise sports and exercise. One guy with CF (Josh Llewelyn Jones) is so passionate about it he started the charity, he himself has completed various ultra endurance events, oh and he set a new world record by lifting a million kilos in 24hrs........ but it’s still not enough, more needs to be done. We need to get this message out and we need to help get all cf kids into fitness. 

I am the weak link in the team, I am not the strongest, I'm not the fastest, and I'm not the fittest but I am the most committed, and I know, no matter what at 23hrs 59minutes I will be giving it everything I've got!