CFRI Family Education Conference

Brandi brought to my attention last week that the CFRI (Cystic Fibrosis Research, Inc.) puts on a family education conference every year. This is their 22nd year to do this. I had no idea there was something out there like this for families, patients, etc. of CF patients. Brandi expressed interest in attending the event and asked if I was interested. After looking at the information and talking about it, we are pretty sure we are going to attend. Brandi got the "ok" to take a few days off of work. Now I'm pretty excited and psyched up about going! Neither one of us has been to San Francisco. I've been to Los Angeles and San Diego...and so far, I LOVE California!!

This year's conference is in San Fransisco....so yes, basically across the US for us two girls (AL-CA). It is July 31st through August 2nd. One of our local CF doctors is actually going and speaking at the event. I'm not sure if any of our CF team from the hospitals attend or not, but I'm definitely interested in finding out. The hotel looks awesome and is right on the Bay. It is just 10 minutes from the airport and has lots of amenities surrounding it. The conference begins Friday afternoon at 4pm and goes through Sunday about lunch time. However, we are going to fly out either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. YAY! The cost of registration (conference) includes all of your meals for the weekend, which is great!

Click here to find out more information about the conference. It is open to any caregiver of a CF patient, relatives of CF patients, medical professionals, etc. AND even adult CF patients. I'm curios if any of my fellow bloggers have ever attended this event, especially the adult CF patients. I know that a lot of the seminar will not pertain to me, but I'm excited about learning new things and bringing it back to the CFF. I'm also interested in current research and what is being done to help cure and advance the treatments for CF. There are also break-out/support groups that go along with your relationship to CF. (i.e: parent, adult CFer, siblings, etc.).

If you are an adult CF patient who wishes to attend, you do have to perform a sputum culture prior to the event to make sure you are not currently positive for certain bacteria. This is true for CF patients who have been transplanted as well.

Money is a little tight...but I'm really going to try and make this work. I think it is a great opportunity. Yes, it will be fun, but I'm also looking forward to the array of information I can bring back to other CF families and the CF Foundation. I go on my cruise the following week after this, so I definitely have to plan and save wisely! I really encourage you to check out the website and see if it interests you!