The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation defines cystic fibrosis as a “progressive, genetic disease in which the patient has a defective gene that causes a thick buildup up of mucus in the lungs, pancreas, and other organs.” This buildup leads to persistent lung infections and limits one’s ability to breathe as the disease progresses. It eventually causes respiratory failure, and the buildup of mucus in the pancreas prevents the release of digestive enzymes that allow the body to absorb nutrients by breaking down food. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation patient registry lists 30,000 people in the United States and 70,000 people worldwide currently living with cystic fibrosis. The patient registry also estimates that 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year, with more than 75 percent being diagnosed by age two.
Even with advances in modern medicine and changing technology, there is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis, so Michigan Tech’s chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon, Epsilon Lambda, took advantage of the crowds at this weekend’s Winter Carnival events and the Winter Carnival All Nighter in order to spread awareness of the disease. Members of the sorority took hour-long shifts sitting outside the Van Pelt and Opie Library on a teeter-totter for a total of 36 hours, and collected donations for cystic fibrosis research and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through a tip jar and a gofundme.com page. “We chose to sit on the teeter-totter for this amount of time because the average life expectancy for those with cystic fibrosis who make it past childhood is 36 years.
Each sister has to do a shift on the teeter-totter,” one member explained, “we made $1,000 this year through the gofundme.com page, and the tip jar from the teeter-totter event usually makes a couple hundred dollars.” This year’s fundraiser brought in a total of $1,500. The sorority decided to raise awareness with a teeter-totter because even though more than half of those with cystic fibrosis are age 18 or older, many with the disease don’t live past childhood. The teeter-totter itself is handmade and was redone a few years ago, so that the seats would stay on, and the sorority has been putting on the teeter-totter fundraiser since the 1990s.
Delta Phi Epsilon is a social sorority, and its main philanthropies are the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. The teeter-totter fundraiser is the sorority’s main event for cystic fibrosis, but they also work with MTU Wellness during Body Positivity week and sell pasties in the fall, the proceeds from which go to ANAD.
