Issue date: 8/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Widener Lindsay Widener, left, with her sister Elizabeth Widener in Spring 2005. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Widener Lindsay Widener on the day she received her Aggie ring. Lindsay was 14 hours away from her diploma when she died on Oct. 10, 2005. [Click to enlarge]

She was accepted to the University and studied environmental design. Lindsay was full of Aggie Spirit and always looked on the bright side of life. She was within 14 hours of achieving her dream and graduating with a Texas A&M degree when she died on Oct. 10, 2005. Lindsay had succumbed to a genetic disease which she had struggled with all her life: cystic fibrosis.

It was after her death that her younger sister Liz Widener teamed up with Michael Gibbon to create Breathe Hope, a student service organization at Texas A&M. The group's mission is to increase knowledge about cystic fibrosis while inspiring action from others to help fight the disease and move toward a cure. Breathe Hope launched after a year of planning in fall 2006 and was officially recognized as a student organization in spring 2007. The organization exists as a memorial to Liz's sister Lindsay, as well as everyone else who has been touched by the disease.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease carried by a recessive gene, similar to the more commonly known sickle cell anemia. While sickle cell anemia is the more renowned disease, cystic fibrosis is the more deadly. Currently cystic fibrosis is the number one killing genetic disorder in the U.S., afflicting more than 30,000 Americans. The disease is characterized by abnormalities of the body's mucus in the lungs and digestive systems. The mucus clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening infections, often requiring a lung transplant to keep the victim alive.

Breathe Hope was created because of the severity and widespread impact of cystic fibrosis. The group organizes a number of events year-round to raise money and awareness of the disease. One of the most successful fundraisers from last year was a trick-or-treat for spare change campaign during Halloween. The group raised more than $500 Halloween night, combing two local neighborhoods for spare change donations and at the same time spreading awareness of the disorder.

Breathe Hope donates the money it raises to the Houston chapter of CFF, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The CFF is a nationwide organization with the sole purpose of finding better treatments, and ultimately a cure, for cystic fibrosis.

"It is wonderful to see kids in college involved in something not about themselves," said Sissy Boyd, the executive director for the Houston chapter of CFF.

Breathe Hope is the only organized group, aside from two local Houston care centers, that assists CFF's search for a cure.

In its first year of existence, Breathe Hope was able to raise more than $2,400, although Boyd said this number is expected to grow. Ninety cents of every dollar Breathe Hope donates to CFF goes directly to research for a cure, and the research is paying off. When CFF was created in 1955, the life expectancy of a child with cystic fibrosis was not even elementary school age. Today the life expectancy is 37 years old, and there are more than 30 new drugs under development that may expand the life expectancy to over 60.

CFF hosts a number of its own fundraisers, but Boyd said she has been so impressed by Breathe Hope over the past year that the CFF plans on putting Breathe Hope in charge of its largest fundraiser for the Bryan-College Station area.

In November, Breathe Hope will organize the first annual "Great Strides" pledge walk in the Brazos County. Last year the "Great Strides" fundraiser raised $35 million nation wide.

Boyd said Houston was home to the largest showing of participants in the "Great Strides" program last year, but said she is sure that the 12th man of Texas A&M will break that record in the years to come.

Raising money is not the only method by which Breathe Hope helps the CFF, Boyd said. Gibbon, class of 2006, said the group also frequently volunteers for the CFF in Houston. Boyd said she has had members of Breathe Hope volunteer to assist with nearly every event the CFF hosts. In addition to their work with the CFF, Breathe Hope also volunteers at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

Breathe Hope will have a table in the student services area of the MSC Open House Sept 2. Liz Widener said she is ecstatic about what Breathe Hope has already accomplished. In May of 2006, Lindsay Widener, whose passing inspired the creation of an organization that has helped so many, posthumously received the Texas A&M degree she had always dreamed of. Her younger sister Liz continues to work with Breathe Hope.

"This organization was founded on a sad thing, and turned it into a positive," Liz said. "Lindsay was a positive girl, and this is what she would have wanted."

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