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Big
hearts at JLU(NQ)
By
Cpl Belinda Mepham
CYSTIC Fibrosis (CF) awareness in the North Queensland region will
ramp up into a full-scale support network because Joint Logistics
Unit JLU(NQ) has heart.
Members and contractors of JLU(NQ) have agreed on the decision to
support and provide a big brother-type relationship, not just fund-raising,
but by building solid and dependable friendships with families.
CO JLU(NQ) Lt-Col David Stevens said that this year, any degree
of support required would be given enthusiastically from JLU(NQ).
“Any thing we can do, even so much as putting up tents and
doing what families need help with, adds to the life expectancy
of our little mates in the longer term,” he said.
“Financially, the limit I have set for the unit to raise is
a high goal, achievable because this is a cause close to the hearts
of many of my members.”
CF is the most common life-threatening, recessive genetic condition
affecting Australian children. For a child to be born with CF both
parents must be genetic carriers.
The president of the North Queensland CF association, Anne Pincott,
said in the early years of midwifery, a baby’s cheek would
be licked when it was born.
If it was a salty taste they considered the child to be hexed and
knew that it would shortly die.
“A child suffering from CF needs help to expel bodily secretions
and today we use a lot of physical fitness and more advanced medical
and care techniques to help them cope,” she said.
All babies born in Australia today are screened at birth for CF
with a test that measures salt in sweat.
Ms Pincott said children suffering from CF needed a lot of excersise
to help the body cope with the symptoms.
“Combined with massage and medication, a good jump around on
a trampoline eases a lot of the symptoms and is essential in the
daily management of CF,” she said.
“Mostly parents manage the requirements but there is a nurse
for the region who provides medical attention and this costs a lot
of money. Caring organisations like JLU(NQ) help to raise the $20,000
dollars needed to pay the wage of such a nurse.”
Ms Pincott said visits to major treatment centres like Brisbane
we re financially and emotionally exhausting for families.
“We are heading towards better quality and quantity of life,
CF affected people now have a life expectancy of late 20s to 30s,
not so long ago that figure was 14-19 years of age,” she said.
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For further information on the support network for CF families
in the North Queensland region please call the Cystic Fibrosis
Queensland Branch on (07) 4721 4368 or Lt Col Stevens on (07)
4771 7577 JLU(NQ) orderly room.
Cystic Fibrosis Australia Inc. phone freecall 1800 635 008 or
(02) 9878 5058
www.cysticfibrosisaustralia.org.au
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What
is Cystic Fibrosis
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In
CF there is a problem with the protein that controls the movement
of salt in and out of the cells.
Too much salt in the cells causes mucus to build up in organs
like the lungs. The mucus clogs the tiny air passages and
traps bacteria causing life-threating infection.
Mucus build up in the pancreas prevents the release of enzymes
needed for the digestion of food that means people can have
problems with nutrition.
Sweat glands, reproductive organs and sometimes the bones
of CF people are affected also.
It primarily affects the lungs and digestive system, however,
with improved medication and treatment life expectancy has
been extended considerably.
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