Allison Brannon

At the age of thirteen Chad's Aunt, Allison Brannon lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis but her struggle with CF has inspired many, including her nephew, to work toward finding more affective treatments and one day, a cure.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that strikes approximately 30,000 children and adults in the U.S. and one in 31 Americans carry the defective gene that triggers the disease without ever showing symptoms or being aware they are carriers... That's more than 10 million people.

There have been enormous advances in CF research thanks to gene mapping and other new technologies but a cure is still a long way off.

If you would like to find out more about Cystic Fibrosis or if you would like to help fund the research that will one day find a cure for CF please visit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.