The Anchor Mom: Teen's Science Project Could Lead to Cystic Fibrosis Cure
If my last article made you despair that "kids today" are all junkies and gun runners, I want to assure you that kids with these types of problems are in the vast minority. That doesn't mean we, as parents, shouldn't be vigilant; it just means that we don't have to trade in our beloved cars and SUVs for hand baskets to hell anytime soon. The kids are alright.
Some of them are better than alright.
Take Marshall Zhang.
For this Canadian 16-year-old's science fair project, he may have come up with a treatment for Cystic Fibrosis so effective many people are calling it a cure.
He told David Rancken and me about it on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD. How 'bout I let him tell you about it?
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You may think David is exaggerating when he mentions the Nobel Prize, but just look at these numbers from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation:
- Approximately 30,000 children and adults have CF in the United States.
- More than 10 million Americans are symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene.
- The disease occurs in one of every 3,500 live births of all Americans and about 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year.
Too many of these children, teens, and adults suffer for the entirety of their often too-short lives. If Marshall's project leads to research that can change and maybe save their lives, well, what else is there to say?
May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. Like Marshall, you can make a difference. The link above takes you to a list of opportunities to help those who struggle, their families, and to support research of the sort that may come from Marshall's Science Fair project. You can join CFF in its mission to "add tomorrows every day" for those who fight this terrible disease.
Oh, and by the way? Marshall Zhang and his science project won the Canada-Wide Science Fair.
Congratulations, Marshall, and thank you.
-Bonnie
Get more news and views for parents from Bonnie Petrie at The Anchor Mom and Pea in the Podcast.
