It was snowing when I woke up the morning after Christmas. In a few hours, I would be going over to Shayna Gutmann’s house. She had invited me the night of the Winter Dance. I was finally going to see her house. But that wasn’t until lunchtime, and I had lots of time to enjoy the Christmas tree and my gifts before then.
Nobody else was awake, so I put on my new purple robe and matching fuzzy slippers and went downstairs quietly. Our Christmas tree still looked beautiful even after all the presents beneath it had been unwrapped. I plugged in the string of little white lights, and the tree sparkled in the darkness of the morning. I looked at the presents I had received the morning before. There were three sweaters, a new pair of jeans, a necklace with a little charm in the shape of a ‘T’, and books from my parents. Alec gave me lip gloss, a headband, and a pair of earrings, which I suspect Jenny picked out. From her I had a CD that I wanted, a set of colored pens, a bracelet, and a sweatshirt that she had painted flowers on in her art class at school. My grandparents sent me money, and there were a few other small gifts for me under the tree. Kelly gave me a scarf that she crocheted herself. But the gift I was looking for was the one from Liza. The journal. I found it under a heap of tissue paper. My Christmas stocking was still hanging from the mantel, and I pulled it down and emptied it onto the floor. Among the lip gloss, bubble gum, hair clips, and bubble bath, there was a pen with ‘Victoria’ on it. I took the new pen and the journal over to the sofa.
Wrapping the big sofa blanket around myself, I got comfortable and opened my new journal to the first blank page (after my entry about the dance and my kiss with Potter!). Through the living room window, I could see the snow, and I knew that later Alec would want to have a snowball fight. Maybe he would help me build a snowman, too.
I uncapped my pen. One interesting thing about myself, Mrs. Jason had said. I started writing.
My name is Victoria Kathleen Richards, but I like to be called Tory. One interesting thing about me is that I have cystic fibrosis….
There were seven days left before the end of winter vacation. In seven days school would start again and Mrs. Jason would ask us to read our reports. I was going to tell the rest of the sixth grade the truth about me. I could hardly wait!
Cystic Fibrosis is the number one fatal genetic disease in the United States. More than 30,000 children and young adults in this country have CF. It is inherited by children whose parents both carry the recessive CF gene. One in twenty adults carries this gene, often without even knowing it. There is still no cure, but researchers are making new discoveries all the time. Scientists hope to find a cure soon. Meanwhile, steady, new advances in the treatment of cystic fibrosis are extending and improving the lives of those who have CF.
If you would like to learn more about cystic fibrosis, you may contact the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at www.cff.org or call 1-800-Fight CF.