Stongnsalty is a real .org

Happy Holidays to all.  

We are very excited to announce that Strong & Salty, the non-profit we have been working to establish is officially a 501(c)(3) through the fiscal sponsorship of Social Good Fund! 

The mission of Strong & Salty is to enhance the quality of life of transplant patients and their families by taking away financial worries, decreasing wait times for organs, and increasing life expectancy post-transplant. We will do all of this by supporting individuals struggling to pay for food and housing during the transplant process, raising awareness for organ donation and supporting transplant research. 

We are working on getting our website and social media up and running and will let you know when those are live. If you are looking to squeeze in a donation before the end of the year we can now help you with that! Checks should be made out to Social Good Fund with Strong & Salty written in the memo section. You can mail them-if you need my address please email one of us. 

We appreciate any and all support! In case you are wondering the Salty in the name is a Cystic Fibrosis reference since those of us with CF have saltier sweat than everyone else. 

We hope you all enjoy a wonder Holiday Season.

Cheers,
The Zs

124Yo

A year sure makes a difference. One year ago today Laura received her second double lung transplant. Today we celebrated at one of her favorite resturants @BelottiRB in Oakland. As one of the top Bay Area resturants it was a blast with such great food and drink!

Looking back a year it is amazing. We can not thank everyone enough for the love and support. It could have not happened without #teamlaura.

We also want to thank the donor's family. We would not be celebrating if it were not for your thoughtfulness. We can not express our appreciation for your actions.

If you are not a donor, we encourage you to look into the process. It really takes just a minute and you could end up changes the lives of multiple familiies. https://www.organdonor.gov/

We hope you all are excited about the holidays and hope you enjoy them to the fullest with friends and family. Again, thank you for the continued support.

Cheers,
The Z's

Anniverary of the first transplant

3 years ago today was Laura’s 1st dbl lung transplant. At this point on that day we had no idea what we were in for. We did know that we were very fortunate to have a donor, the best surgical team in the world and an extremely supportive network of friends and family to support us.

We did send a note to the original donor family. We have not heard from them but cannot thank them enough for their selfless donation at was a difficult time.

We now have multiple lungaversaries to celebrate. As for this adventure we have had a few weeks of check-ups and appointments. In regards to lung function, Laura is at 100%, #CRUSHINGIT!. As always she has be very diligent in her workouts and in all the tasks required to strengthen the new lungs.

The infections are still an issue. We should have results of the bronch this week. Hopefully the mold that was growing out on a suture has died with the months of Ampho. If it is still active, she will continue on the Ampho for another month and we will retest in May.

There were a few more treats in this last visit. The staph infection has come back as has the pseudomonas. There are treatments for both, but both take a great deal out of Laura. The breathing treatments for all three take hours each morning and evening. The side effects are tough as well.

In general all is well. All of the anti-rejection meds are still at very high levels and thus we are not that active. Large groups and small spaces are still to be avoided. Hopefully as we gain control over these current infections and the flu season passes us by the doctors will decrease the levels and Laura can return to her regular routine.

Thank you for the support.

Cheers,

The Z’s