http://www.cysticfibrosismacarthur.org.au

Swim, slide for good cause

January 18, 2012

BY ALEXANDRA PLEFFER
18 Jan, 2012 01:00 AM

VISIT Wollondilly Leisure Centre next month to help Macarthur kids with cystic fibrosis.
The Macarthur Swimathon for Cystic Fibrosis has a carnival theme this year and for $10 visitors get entry, jumping castle rides, face painting, fairy floss, popcorn and snow cones.The money raised will go towards research of cystic fibrosis and support for Macarthur residents with the disease.
Cystic fibrosis affects the lungs and digestive system and is the most common life-threatening, recessive genetic disease affecting Australian children. Fourteen-year-old Jaylee Booshand said while she wanted to hang out with friends and visit the beach, cystic fibrosis often got in her way.
“A lot of my friends have been going to the beach in the holidays but Mum doesn’t like me going because I can get sunstroke heaps quick and then I have trouble breathing,” she said.
“In year 7 a lot of people didn’t want to hang out with me because I coughed a lot and I was too scared to tell a lot of people about CF. “As I started telling people I got more friends because they had [previously] just thought I was going to make them sick. ”But every time I go to hospital it’s pretty depressing because I’m always at Westmead so I’m never with my friends.” The St Helens Park teenager starts year 9 at John Therry Catholic High School this year and takes daily medication to prevent lung infection.
She was in hospital five times last year for about three weeks at a time. But she said the swimathon was a highlight and she was looking forward to being with family and friends. “But the best moment is when we find out how much we’ve raised,” she said.
The swimathon will be held at Wollondilly Leisure Centre on Saturday, February 11 with a swim launch at Camden Valley Inn on Thursday, February 9.

Read the full story in the Macarthur Advertiser
Join in the Swim at Every Day Hero