gofundme.com/freejulie

Two weeks ago, I was admitted into the hospital due to a gnarly cough and a 20% decrease in lung function. My baseline is in the 90's but when I was admitted, it was at 73%. After a week and a half of I.V. antibiotics, four times a day breathing treatments/airway clearance and five days of steroids, my lung function had dropped to 72%; this seems to be a reoccurring thing for me during hospital admissions. My only explanation to this is that as important as I.V. meds and breathing treatments are to improving my lung function, getting fresh air and moving my body is just as vital. When I'm stuck in a hospital room for two weeks, I am given no opportunity to be active like I usually am at home.

After explaining this to the CF team, they decided to let me out with 72% lung function. The plan is to go home, do my treatments four times a day, exercise a lot and then come back in a week to check my lung function again. If my function shows an improvement next week, then we know that the exercise factor is what we were missing. If my lungs show a decline or no change, I'm back in the hospital again.

Before I went home (tuesday morning), they wanted to check my lung function one last time.
Monday morning it was 72.
Tuesday morning I left the hospital with 91% lung function.
And by this we know that Jesus is alive!!

This is what I like to call the power of prayer; the power of saying, "I trust you, Jesus," in response to whatever happens to you. Understand that it is nearly impossible to have my lung function improve by 20% over night; also understand that God is so beyond capable of doing far beyond all that we ask or imagine. He makes what seems impossible, possible. 

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During this admission, my mom had started a gofundme account to start raising a little money towards my hospital stays.  Living 45 minutes away from Stanford requires quite a bit of gas and it's becomes costly to feed me outside food. Hospital food is limited and often soggy or bland. The hardest part of these frequent hospital stays is that I am stuck in isolation- which means that I am not allowed to leave my tiny little room. Spending weeks upon weeks in what feels like solitary confinement isn't always easy. Starting this gofundme account has allowed my mom to help provide for me and make these long days in the hospital a little easier.

Unsure of what was to come, we decided to give it a shot; giving this whole account, this whole idea over to God- trusting in His provision.
In just ten short hours, we had already raised $1,000. I couldn't believe it. It was only day one and God was already doing immeasurable things through this account.
I think this gofundme thing goes farther than just the money. I was forced to give up complete control to Jesus and I was taught that it's okay to accept money/gifts from other people- something I have struggled with doing for the past few years. Giving comes fairly easy to me, it brings me joy to bring others joy. Receiving on the other hand is something I am uncomfortable with. The thing is, when a friend doesn't let me buy them coffee when I willingly offer or I just want to do something for someone without anything in return, I get extremely irritated and offended when they resist or say no. Yet, when someone does something for me, my response is the same. Funny how that works.

If receiving wasn't already uncomfortable enough, the majority of the people who gave are ones I'm not really close with. I ask myself, "why". why would someone do this for me? They don't even know me. Still, I don't know why. Everything about this experience has left me speechless, uncomfortable, yet humbled my heart completely. I am constantly amazed by Jesus and the ways He unexpectedly and abundantly blesses my life. Thank you friends and strangers for making me feel so incredibly loved and making these hospital stay and continuous fight against Cystic Fibrosis just a little easier for me and my family. Thank you for helping raise awareness for CF by supporting me and this disease. I can't begin to express how grateful I am. Know that I pray for you all everyday, asking Jesus to extend your money this month.

"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for MORE, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back." // Luke 6:38

help support my fight against cystic fibrosis by donating here // "For this sickness will not lead to death but to God's glory." // John 11:4