Gala fights cystic fibrosis

OCEAN Grove’s Peter and Rebecca Baxter will join 500 people at a cystic fibrosis (CF) gala night this month, in hope of finding a cure.
Their 11-year-old daughter Ella, whose story The Voice covered last year, was diagnosed with the condition when she was five weeks old.
The Voice spoke to Ella again on 6 May, who was amazed that people were willing pay $1000 a table for the event.
“I didn’t know there were so many people who wanted to find a cure,” she said.
Peter agreed, saying people had jumped at the opportunity to buy tickets or donate items for auction.
“Money is not an object for them,” he said.
“It’s going to be a great night.”
Peter said if scientists did one day find a cure for CF it would be unbelievable.
“Ella wouldn’t need meds, she wouldn’t have to go to the physio and she wouldn’t have to go the hospital for 14 days at a time,” he said.
“And she wouldn’t need transplants when she’s older.”
The inaugural Cure Cystic Fibrosis Gala Dinner is the brainchild of Geelong’s Leann Tremul whose 12-year-old daughter has CF.
Leann said she had sold more than 500 tickets so far.
The event aims to raise awareness of CF and funds will go to the Cure4CF Foundation to support the ground-breaking research being carried out by the Adelaide CF Gene Therapy Program.
A baby is born every four days with CF and they will have a 50 per cent chance of dying before they are 37 years old.
The night takes place at The Pier, Geelong, on 21 and will feature a guest speech by 45-year-old Ocean Grove resident, Chris Teece.
Chris, so who has CF, appeared in the Voice this February, after receiving a life-changing lung transplant.