A Second Chance at Life

Rachel is a small town girl with a big heart. Growing up in a little place known as Durham Connecticut, from day 1 Rachel has been secretly battling the insidious effects of a genetic disease that most know nothing about unless it effects them directly in some shape or form, Cystic Fibrosis. Growing up I never knew the extent to which Rachel struggled, I just remember a happy, friendly, soccer teammate who frequently used an inhaler. Nothing out of the ordinary in my eyes. As we got older however, Rachel and I became closer and as times got harder in our transitioning adolescent to adult lives, our friendship got stronger and I learned more and more about the daily struggles that Rachel would go through but never said a word about. Countless hours of medicine self administration, handfuls upon handfuls of pills, specialized equipment to promote breathing, the list was endless, but no matter how much trouble she was going through in her own life, she was the first to the scene when asked for help by a friend, or even complete stranger for that matter. She had unmatchable strength and an unequivocally large heart and regard for others. Just recently, as Summer began to approach, I started noticing changes in Rachel. It was getting harder for her to do things that she would do on a daily basis, even walking to and from her car in parking lots was becoming nearly impossible due to the lack of functioning of her lungs. After a routine doctors appointment one day, Rachel was again in the hospital, but this time it was different. This time she didn't get discharged as normal. For months, I watched my absolute best friend in this world struggle to keep her life. Even with all odds against her, Rachel fought day in and day out, and even when all doctors thought it would be impossible for her to ever recover and were about to give up hope, Rachel proved them wrong and displayed the strength necessary to be a double lung transplant candidate. For Rachel's 24th birthday, she received a second chance at life and was given a new set of lungs.

 Although the story doesn't end here, transplants come with insurmountable amounts of complications, most of which involve Rachel enduring endless and permanent nerve damage and pain in numerous parts of her body making it hard to walk or even stand for extended periods of time. But as always, her strength shows through as she ignores the pain and attempts to live a normal life. 

 Rachel has done more for me than she will ever know. She has been an amazing friend, supporter and most of all a role model. She has shown me that no matter what life throws at you, if you fight back you will never be defeated.

 Too strong willed to ask for herself, it's now my turn to give back to Rachel. Bills add up quickly, and Rachel lived in the hospital in the intensive care unit for over 3 months. No single person can handle such a debt on their own, and no one should have too, especially not after battling to sustain your own life. 

I have created this page in order to help Rachel be able to enjoy her second chance at life living with less worry than she has too by diminishing the burden of extensive bills which collectivley added up over her time in the hospital. 

 She is more deserving than anyone I know, and through the community of this fundraising page, maybe we can all be like Rachel and do something for someone else and help a deserving young woman enjoy her second chance at life.