Happy Birthday to my precious boy!

I cannot believe that tomorrow my baby boy will be one year old already. This year has flown by so fast! I'm sure that I can speak for Ryan and me both when I say that this was the absolute best year of our lives. Camden is such a joy to us that it's so hard to even explain it. Today Ryan and Cam were featured in our local newspaper for a Father's Day special, but it also explained CF which I was very happy with seeing how not many people know much about the disease and we know they don't wanna ask us. I think it will be very informative for a lot of people that know us around our town. When I seen my boys on the front page it just made my heart melt. They both mean the world to me and I'm so grateful to have been blessed to have them in my life. As for Camden and his first year of life....he has done wonderful. It couldn't have been better for us, Cam has been so healthy thus far and I pray every night that his health continues to stay this good. We will be going for the first "big" check-up at the end of the month where he will have blood drawn :( and x-rays :( and a lot of other tests done to make sure he is still doing fine. Cam don't mind the x-rays but this will be a first in having his blood drawn so hopefully it's not too bad. I will give an update on how the appointment goes but say a little prayer for him that all is well. I just want to say thanks to our family and friends for loving us and being there for us through this tough year, but we made it and I know in my heart we will make it through them all. I can't wait to get that call saying VX-809 was approved and Cam will only have to take 2 pills in the morning and 2 at night. Then he can snack all day with mommy if he wants too :) Thanks for all the prayers!

Our Story

It all started when my sister in law, Tara, had her prenatal test come back saying that she was a carrier for cystic fibrosis. None of us had ever heard of the disease so this is when I think we all looked up the actual definition and did some research. Her husband was tested next and he was not a carrier, which is required that both parents be carriers to have a child with CF, so this was great news and we didn't think about it much after that. I vividly remember being over at Tara's house for dinner and her telling me a little about this disease and how scared she was before she knew that they were in the clear. I remember thinking to myself how awful the disease sounded and was so thankful that they didn't have to worry about it anymore. Not too long after that Ryan and I found out that we were going to be having a bundle of joy also. We were both ecstatic and couldn't wait. It wasn't until I was about three months pregnant that I remembered what had happened with my sister in law and after doing a little research I realized that my husband was probably also a carrier since his sister was. This is when the worrying began. If you know me then you know I worry about everything! I started worrying about things at a young age and I will die worrying about something and that's fine because that's just me. I knew my prenatal tests would be coming up soon but I honestly wasn't that scared about the results I really felt that we had nothing to worry about and I was being crazy. Then the call came; Mrs Plummer...(yes) Your tests came back and we show that you are a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis..(uhhh)...Don't worry it's pretty unlikely that your husband will be a carrier for this disease...(really b/c his sister is)...OH Well were going to need you guys to come in and have him tested. The tears started rolling. I was more scared than I have ever been and I didn't even know much about CF at this time... but by the end of that day you better believe that I had read everything that I could find on the internet about it and I was terrified. Later on Ryan was tested and again we had to wait. I just knew he was a carrier, that was a waste of 400 dollars to find out b/c I already knew. Then that call came; Mrs Plummer...(yes)...Your husband's test came back positive as a carrier...(okay)...Don't worry though your child only has a 25% chance of having CF...(thank you bye) I went back to work, at this time I'm about to lose it so I call my mother-in-law and tell her the news. She knew I wasn't doing so good, I tried to hide the shakiness in my voice but she asked if I was okay and I said yes then boohoohoo here come the water works. Jump forward to the end of my pregnancy. I was scheduled to be induced on June 17th at Mercy Hospital and had a sweat test scheduled for June 19th at OU childrens. I ended up having an emergency c-section at 7:26 pm with Cam and when I told the doctors that I wanted to leave in a day and a half after that they about croaked. I was supposed to stay at least 4 days to recover but I told them to forget it b/c I wasn't. We drove over to OU anxiously waiting for this test to be over. The wrapped my Camo's tiny leg up with hot gauze to make him sweat to test his chloride levels. They said we would know by the end of the day. We headed on home which was 2 hours away and I sat in the back staring at this precious baby knowing in my heart that there wasn't a thing wrong with him b/c he was so beautiful and so perfect. We were exactly 15 miles from our house, which had a house full of guests that were going to be there waiting on us, when my phone rang and it was Debbie Berry; Brook...(yes)...I'm sorry but Camden's sweat test was positive...(silence)...His chloride level was 96 and anything above 60 is considered positive...(silence...by now my husband is looking at me in the rearview mirror realizing what just happened)...Brook are you okay...(yes thank you for calling. Bye) My heart dropped and I couldn't speak, I was absolutely heartbroken. I remember just staring at him and he was asleep with a half smile on his face just as perfect as can be. This was supposed to be the best day of my life but it also turned out to be the worst. Ryan pulled over down the road and got out to hug me b/c I was crying so hard that I couldn't even breathe. This is the day it all started...

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

CF is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of approximately 30,000 people in the U.S. A defective gene and it's protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs airways and lead to life-threatening lung infections, and obstructs the pancreas from making enzymes that the body needs to digest food. The average life expectancy is 37 years old which has went up tremendously from in the past where children didn't live to attend elementary school. Symptoms of people with CF include the following: salty tasting skin, persistant cough, frequent lung infections, wheezing & shortness of breath, and poor weight gain.