Be An Angel....

A Sharlie's Angel!

Many of you may remember my post about Sharlie recieving the great news that she was accepted at Stanford to get a new heart and a new set of lungs. Well if you don't remember you can click here.

Well many of Sharlie's Angels have rallied and helped fundraise for her next BIG miracle. You can check out her fundraising page here. There have been lemonade stands, craft sites, a benefit called Air supply you can read all about those on Sharlie's blog which is titled Sharlie's Angels. I know she feels that everyone in her life is truly an angel but in reality she is our angel. We are all SO blessed and SO lucky to know her and I know she inspires many each day including myself.

I wanted to help out to in some way, so after brainstorming some ideas I came up with an idea to paint a Sharlie's Angels painting. I thought I would auction it off on my blog and all proceeds would go towards Shar's transplant. So below is a close up of the painting and a description...

This painting is titled Sharlie's Angels and it is painted with acrylic paints and on a 16x20 canvas. Here's a close up pic of it....

So the highest bidder will receive this 16x20 painting. You have until Dec 1st to bid, that way I can get it in the mail in case you want to give it as a Christmas gift. Just leave a comment or email mail me at somer@lovetobreathe.com with your bid. I will update this blog post to let you know what the bid is at every day unless the bid remains the same.

I will start the bidding at $100. Good Luck and Happy Bidding! Xo

Bid is now at $500 back to Jason. 2 min left!!!  Bidding will close tomorrow at 5pm Mountain time.


Closed~~~~~ Congrats Jason!!! Thank you for helping Sharlie with her transplant. Consider yourself one of Sharlie's new Angels :)

The World is My Oyster!!

Ok after 2 days of waiting patiently by my door UPS finally delivered it!

Isn't it SO cute!!! I finally got my EVER GO!! YAhoo it's a portable oxygen concentrator that is FAA approved so I can take it on the plane and have stress free traveling.... Also no more heavy tanks to deal with :) this lil guy is only 10lbs. I think he needs a name... any suggestions?

Thank you all who purchased your limited Love to Breathe necklace I hope you love it as much as I love mine and thank you Lissa for making it ALL possible and for all your Love!!! Xo

To see more of Lissa's necklaces click here

Everyone has a dream... What's your dream?

Who Loves to Breathe?

That's right... Custom Love to Breathe necklaces!!!

Click here to order your very own and read about our exciting new ideas!

It's never Tasted So Good!

WOW!!!!! Drum roll please..... The 11th annual Taste of Salt Lake was a success!!! Thank you so much for everyone's hard work it paid off! We raised around $288,000 gross! SO fabulous!

For those of you that couldn't make the great evening you can watch the Taste video HERE the video was very powerful. It will give you a lil glimpse into the CF life, and show you why we truly celebrate every breath!

at my house let the evening begin!

The Love to Breathe Award giving to the Medical Director of Primary Children's CF center

Dr Barbara Chatfield (I painted this plate )

In front of the fancy ice sculpture

De Masked

Ricki and I with are "No swine in '09" masks

Yes we are still smeyeling under them ;)

Paintball

Come and support CF at the 1^st Annual Charity Paintball Event on Nov 12^th from 7pm – 9:30pm in Midvale. The address is 7050 South 400 West. The cost is $20 per person. Should be lots of fun!!

Voting Tiome!!

Voting just takes a second and if Emily wins $5,000 goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!

Click here to Vote for Emily Schaller to help win $5,000 for charity!

Take one look at this native Detroiter and it’s plain to see. Emily Schaller does not take guff. Equal parts spark and wit, Emily is claiming her victories against cystic fibrosis having launched Rock CF Foundation in summer of 2007. Today Emily’s battle against this deadly genetic disease is printed in magazines and posted on websites, her greatest victories being raising $150,000 for cystic fibrosis research and securing a sponsorship of $20,000 from New York-based Spin magazine for Rock CF Foundation’s annual benefit concert. She is a super teacher and a speaker. Emily teaches parents, patients and audiences in the CF world about the effects of cystic fibrosis and improvements being made to the treatments. She is a super athlete. Emily has ran over 300 miles and biked over 700 miles and ridden 282 miles from Detroit to Chicago to keep healthy and raise funds for Rock CF. She is a super musician. Schaller organizes and rocks out at her annual “Just Let Me Breathe” (JLMB) rock ‘n roll benefit concert. To date the JLMB concert series has raised over $60,000. It’s plain to see, Emily is positive in her crusade. “ I am inspired and motivated to keep plugging away because I know for a fact that the money we raise is indeed helping to improve the lives of cystic fibrosis patients.“

Emily's journey with CF started with her diagnosis at age 18 months when doctors told her parents their daughter may not live long enough to graduate from high school. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disease that causes thick mucus to build up inside the body and block vital organs like the lungs and pancreas from functioning properly. Thanks to her lifetime of treatments Emily is now a healthy and happy 27-year-old. “The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the reason I am alive today. Their constant research efforts enable me to do the things I love to do.” Nationally recognized as an advocate, Emily and Rock CF supporters and volunteers across the globe share in her passions of public speaking, performing, the arts, running and biking to fulfill her mission to “ROCK CF.”

In January of 2007 Gennentech Heroes of Hope Program named Emily a Hero Of Hope and Novartis’ patient and family outreach website, CFVoice.com spotlights video clips and a featured video about Emily and how she is thriving with cystic fibrosis. These and many other Rock CF press clips are updated at HYPERLINK "http://www.rockcf.org" www.rockcf.org.

For Emily, exercising and a positive outlook along with following her extensive daily medical routine of breathing treatments, chest physical therapy and a laundry list of medications are the keys to controlling CF. Making the journey on her terms and not the disease’s is her way of staying in ahead of the game to keep strong, healthy and in charge.

As an athlete, maintaining physical status every pedal and step increases pulmonary function and she has proved this to be true. In June of 2008 Emily completed her first half marathon running 13.1 miles. With the help of her friend/former gym teacher, she finished in two hours and four minutes! Her goal for 2009 is to break two hours. She will also run her first full marathon in ‘09.

Emily's truest reward comes from speaking to groups of all ages and sizes all over the country about CF. “We need to tell more people about CF and its’ effects because it still is the #1 genetic killer of children and young adults. Also I love to share my story to others with CF and their families to maybe give them a little hope and inspiration.” Elementary through college students, medical students, corporations with five people up to a crowd of 4,000 medical professionals, Emily has spoken to just about every demographic there is.

Twice yearly Emily is admitted to the hospital for what she calls her “tune up.” During these hospitalizations IV antibiotics are given to treat lung infections and the bugs that may be active and awaiting an attack. As with most CF patients this is old hat and Emily represents her fight working, training and counseling while on IV’s. Clearly, there is little that can slow this hero behind Rock CF Foundation down and as long as Schaller can talk we will continue to hear Emily's roar of hope and awareness about cystic fibrosis.

Let’s ROCK CYSTIC FIBROSIS so hard that one day CF will stand for Cure Found ”
-Emily Schaller

Supported charity: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Spooning for a cause

Making an impact NOW

Saving money is easier said than done… I have so many things on my list that I need to save up for. The majority of my list has to do with my health and let me tell you it adds up. Who would think that being able to breathe would be considered a luxury. I am in the market for a portable oxygen concentrator. I have done a ton of research and the one I am looking at is the Evergo by Respironics. It's FAA approved and most airlines allow it on their flights. It has 4 batteries and each battery has about 8hrs of life. It weighs less than 10 lbs and would make traveling stress free, not to mention I wouldn’t have to deal with O2 tanks for the times that I use portable O2. Basically all this translates to a luxury item that insurance won’t cover. GRRRRR

Well I was telling my sweet talented friend Lissa about the Evergo one day when she had an idea. See last year she gave me a special Love to Breathe Necklace that was just for her and I, the only 2 of its kind. Well let me tell you how many people lost sleep over not being able to ever own that amazing pendant. After numerous requests for the necklace she asked me what I thought about adding it to the collection, well I was hesitant cause I loved the idea that it was a one of a kind or two of a kind actually. So we were brainstorming back and forth and came up with the idea to only make 65 of them for $65. Sixty Five Roses is what some children call Cystic Fibrosis since it is so hard to pronounce. Then she got this great idea that what if we started getting more personal with our donations we could make a bigger impact now for patients. She is determined to help me get my Ever Go. Then we got to thinking how great it would be to help others with medical equipment etc that cost an arm and a leg. So many great ideas kept coming to mind. My cute friend Suzie will need to get her beautiful daughter a vest soon, well we all know those are expensive. I swear if you squint hard enough when you look at your vest you can almost see a car, or a down payment for a house. So how exciting will it be to help people now and get them the things they need to breathe a lil easier. We have more ideas to make Love To Breathe necklaces more personalized I'll post more on that later.

So with all this said I want to show you the First Limited Edition Love to Breathe necklace… They are numbered on the back and when Emily Schaller went to visit Ellen Degeneres well she took her number 5/65.

Click here to go to Lissa's Etsy site

Emily to Ellen

Emily’s newest challenge is a cross-country ride from Chicago to Los Angeles where she hopes to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis with a large national audience. As you can see from the photos included, Emily shares a striking resemblance to Ellen DeGeneres and is a huge fan of the talk show host. Emily has maintained her health by becoming incredibly physically fit. Her fitness regime includes running, drumming, and biking. Two weeks ago, Emily took her Third Annual City to City Ride, 335 miles in four days from Detroit to Chicago on her bicycle. Her plan had been to return from that ride and then one month later begin her trek to Los Angeles. However, Emily’s Achilles tendon has been injured and now she is unable to make that ride as she had been planning to do. A lung infection in July, required antibiotics which have the unfortunate side effect of weakening tendons, and thus the Achilles injury, making a 2000-mile bicycle ride impossible.

Fortunately, Emily doesn’t recognize the word “impossible” and within minutes of hearing this potentially devastating news, Emily had a new plan…..”I’ll ride a Vespa instead!” Emily will be riding a very cool Vespa, from Chicago to L.A. which is critical in making her dream come true.

** Update** Emily will be riding 30-40 each morning and then finishing it up on the Vespa. Physcial thearpy has really been paying off and Em's achilles is on the mend.
Emily has received a great deal of press locally and nationally. She has appeared in a Forbes Magazine article, New York Times article, and a recent local article from the Detroit Free Press as well as an announcement of her recent Applebee's "Real Burgers for Real Heros” award.

Keep up to date with the ride at www.letsrockcf.org, www.e2e4cf.com and also follow SPIN Magazines coverage at spinearth.tv!

She'll be collecting donations for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation too. You can donate, track the ride and stay in touch with Emily at www.E2E4CF.com!

SCHEDULE

9.22 Chicago to Davenport, Iowa

9.23 Davenport to Osceola, Iowa

9.24 Osceola to Lincoln, NE

9.25 Lincoln to Trenton, NE

9.26 Trenton to Denver, CO

9.27 DAY OFF IN DENVER

9.28 Denver to Steamboat Springs, UT

9.29 Steamboat Springs to Vernal, UT

9.30 Vernal to Salt Lake City, UT

10.1 Salt Lake City to Fillmore, UT

10.2 Fillmore to Caliente, NV

10.3 Caliente to Las Vegas, NV

10.4 DAY OFF LAS VEGAS

10.5 Las Vegas to Ridgecrest, CA

10.6 Ridgecrest to Burbank, CA

Jimmy Choos for a year!!!

All of the proceeds from ticket sales go to the CF Foundation and support medical research to cure or control Cystic Fibrosis.

For this event, they partnered with Jimmy Choo, the luxury shoe designer, to put on an opportunity drawing for “A Year of Jimmy Choo” and a One-of-a-Kind Handbag. Only 300 tickets will be sold, so the odds of winning this package are pretty strong! Each ticket costs $100, so they are hoping to raise $30,000 through this drawing! The package is valued at over $4,000 and includes a pair of Jimmy Choos for each season (four pairs total) and a one-of-a-kind snakeskin purse.

Click here to go to a link to the event Web site, which has information about the opportunity drawing and prize:

Your chance to win a Yamaha Roadstar

We are now just one month away from the drawing for this beautiful Yamaha Roadstar custom built by legendary Denny Berg and Cobra on July 4th.

 

Here’s your chance to win a custom motorcycle that your wife/husband/mom/dad never wanted you to have and all in the name of a good charity.  J 

 

Just think how cool you would look this summer!  Ten dollars is all it takes to win and it will help those afflicted by Cystic Fibrosis.

 

 

Please help make a difference for those who suffer from cystic fibrosis.

 

To learn how please visit:

www.BreatheEasyRide.com

 

 

May is

Officially Cystic Fibrosis Awareness month and we all know we have some awareness to spread. The need for a cure is greater than ever! So keep on keeping on so we can all make CF stand for CURE FOUND!!!

I like to read memoirs about the inspiring stories of people with CF. I was recently asked to read 

SIXTY FIVE ROSES: A sister's Memoir By Heather Summerhayes

I was excited to read it, Pam was diagnosed back in 1958 when she was 4 years old and back then really there was no treatment for children with CF. They weren't expected to live much into their child hood. So during those times the diagnosis was a bit depressing. However, Pam defied the limits and lived life to the fullest and taught her older sister Heather how to live.

I thought it was very interesting to see how far we have come from 1958 to 2009. Just think we now have 30+ drugs in the pipeline, these drugs will allow patients to hopefully live well beyond the 37 year old life expectancy. There is so much more hope now then there was in 1958.

I also thought it was very interesting to hear the perspective of a healthy sibling living with a CFer. It made me reflect a lil bit on what my bros maybe had to deal with and still do to this day.

 Click here to read more about the author and this book. A portion of the proceeds from this book are going to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Celine wrote the forward and Eva Longoria has purchased the film rights. Have any of you read this book? I would love to know what you thought.

Thanks JT

From March 27, 2009 to April 24th 2009, William Rast will donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the William Rast New America Flag t-shirt to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. CFF is the leading organization in the United States devoted to Cystic Fibrosis.

For those of you that don't know William Rast is Justin Timberlakes clothing line. I am a proud owner of a coat.... and of course I'll have to get this tee.

Blogging Auction

Ok after all your requests to do this I thought I would oblige... I had a very hard time choosing which painting to put on here, so I may just have to do this again :)

This is a Love to Breathe painting and it is on a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas so you can hang it as is, it doesn't need to be framed.  You can bid on it by leaving a comment and who ever is the highest bidder on Wed March 25th will be the proud owner. I'll start the bidding price at $75 a portion of the proceeds will go to the CFF. Last year Love to Breathe raised over $5,000 for the CFF. Remember 90 cents of every dollar goes to funding research for that sought after cure.... Happy bidding :)

111

DRUMROLL....... As of this week the total number of Love to Breathe necklaces that have sold is yes 111!!!!!

111 necklaces sold x $10 donated= $1,110.00 donated

Just think .90 cents of every dollar donated is going to fund research to find that sought after cure for Cystic Fibrosis!!! 

Click here to go to Lissa's Etsy site to purchase your Love to Breathe necklace. Remember LOVE day is right around the corner and she just added a new unisex necklace so the guys won't feel left out! 

Thank you to everyone who already has one and wears it proudly. Your love and support mean the world to me! I have the one in the first pic and wear it daily! I love it! Not to mention it makes the perfect gift! 

Lissa I also want to thank you!! Without you none of this would be possible. You are so talented and your compassion for this cause has been awe-inspiring! Thank you for being so fabulous! Xo

Another Drumroll please.......  We now have a unisex necklace.

A note from Lissa

Hello, I would like to take a minute this week to say thank you for your support of Cystic Fibrosis. Since August my necklaces have raised over $600 for Love to Breathe, and at a recent silent auction they raised $600 more!  This never would have happened without the tireless efforts of my friends like Somer and Peg who spread the word on blogs, doctor appointments, the grocery store, the list goes on.  And also to all of you who have purchased a necklace or two (or several- Lisa I'm looking at you!) on etsy- a big thank you.   The holidays are upon us, and I am so excited this year (mostly because my daughter is finally old enough to notice lights, decorations, and presents.)  Remember- Love to Breathe necklaces would make lovely gifts. To make your gift giving a little easier I'm having a sale!  I have dropped the price to $30 with free shipping.  The donation to Love to Breathe remains $10, so your warm fuzzies from helping fund CF research will be just as great. Each necklace will come gift wrapped, with a cute tag which explains a bit about CF and Love to Breathe. Tell your friends, or just surprise them with a necklace of their own :) Thanks again, 

Lissa Lander  

Click here to go to Lissa's Etsy site

Record breaking!!!

The local Utah/Idaho Chapter is working hard to make CF stand for Cure Found!

 

Through the tireless efforts of our committee, Board of Director and volunteers, under the fine leadership of Event Chair Tammy L. Sloan, this year we raised $250,000 at the Taste… just about double what we raised last year!!!  Congratulations to everyone who was involved in making this the largest grossing CF event in chapter history! 

 

We had 38 wonderful corporate sponsors and a total of 850 people in attendance.  22 delicious restaurants were there serving up the finest food around.  Please help us to thank them for supporting the Taste of Salt Lake and CF Foundation by dining there throughout the year.  I encourage you to book your holiday parties, family gatherings and special occasions with them.  Here’s the list…

 

Bangkok Thai – 3142 S. Highland Dr .

Buona Vita Ristoranto Italiano – 12434 Minuteman Dr, #200

Café Madrid – 2080 E. 3900 S.

Café Sabor – 3126 Quarry Rd. (exit 141 Jeremy Ranch)

Café Trio – 680 S. 900 E. (also in Cottonwood )

Exclusive Wedding Cakes – 755 E. Winchester St .

Faustina – 454 E. 300 S.

Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar – 20 S. 400 W. (at the Gateway)

Fratelli Ristorante – 9236 S. Village Shop Dr .

Fresco Italian Café – 1513 S. 1500 E.

The Garden Café at the Grand – 555 S. Main St .

The Glitretind at Stein Eriksen Lodge – 7700 Stein Way , Park City

Hapa Grill – 1571 Redstone Center Dr. #140 , Kimball Junction

Melting Pot – 340 S. Main St .

P.F. Chang's China Bistro – 174 W. 300 South

Rodizio Grill – 600 South 700 East

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse – 134 W. Pierpont Ave

Spencer's for Steaks and Chops – 255 S. West Temple

Spoon Me – 532 East 400 South (also in Provo and Sandy )

Thaifoon - Taste of Asia – 7 North 400 West (at the Gateway)

Tiburon – 8256 South 700 East

Tsunami – 7628 S. Union Park Ave. (also in Sugarhouse)

 

Again, thank you to everyone involved!  We look forward to more record breaking events in the future!

 

Taste of Salt Lake

WOW!!!!!! DRUM ROLLLLLLLLLLL....................

We raised $250,000 we doubled it from last year!!!!!  WOOP!! WOOP!! 

It's the best year yet!! Our 10th Annual Taste of Salt Lake was a SUCCESS!!! Thank you again SO much to all that help made this possible! If we keep this up CF WILL stand for CURE FOUND in no time!

Here are some more pics from the event, I'll post more in the next post.