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Welcome to Brooke Kibler's Page
Brooke Kibler
Brooke Kibler
My name is Brooke Kibler. Alyssa Kibler was my best friend, my warrior queen, and my sister.
When Alyssa was born, she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Originally, doctors only provided her and my parents the hope that she would live until she was 16 years old. My parents became dedicated to finding the best care that could be found and ensured that she had the treatment accessible. Not only did they find an incredible team at Hershey Hospital, but they even were able to take her to Texas where they were able to identify a horrible mycobacterium that was fighting against her. As science progressed, new treatments were developed, new medicines were created...and Alyssa's life expectancy kept rising as they became available to her.
Despite frequent visits to the hospital, where she quickly became a "Favorite Patient", she stayed strong and dedicated to fighting. She described breathing as "breathing through a straw" and in the later years, needed to be on oxygen and struggled to walk short distances. But she never let the difficulties of CF bring her down. I think she looked at them as a challenge to overcome. She was determined to continue living her life to the fullest, which included owning numerous animals, including a horse, traveling the world with her best friends and terrorizing me as her little sister. She became a voice in the CF Community Facebook pages and created many friendships with people who were experiencing the same as her and rejoiced when they were thriving and would mourn when someone lost their battle. It's truly heartbreaking the amount of loss that CF patients have to experience because of this disease.
We had many talks about mortality growing up and I always knew that she was sick and wouldn't live forever, but all of those talks seemed surreal and like they would never happen. In October of 2020 all of those conversations came rushing back to me as reality hit... my sister was losing her battle. I live in South Carolina, but she wanted to wait for me to arrive before they pulled her off of the ventilator that was helping her stay with us. I arrived as quickly as I could. She looked at me and said "I love you" in her special way, of pointing at her eye, giving me heart hands and pointing at me. A tear rolled down her eye and I knew in that moment that today was the day. My sister rarely showed sadness as she was always somehow the strongest of all of us despite being the one with the most medical issues and in the most pain. I sat with her for the next 8 hours holding her hand and telling her everything I ever wanted to tell her, even though she was sedated for comfort. By 8:21pm on October 20th, CF had finally defeated my knight in shining armor.
My whole life, my entire family has been dedicated to raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in hopes that Alyssa would remain with us for as long as she could. Because of the advances that science made through the years due to the fundraising efforts of my family and others with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, my sister got to live for 35 INCREDIBLE years. She lived absolutely every single day to the fullest and got to go on some amazing adventures with some of her absolute closest friends. From Scotland to Aruba, Alyssa never let her CF stop her. I will not let CF taking my sister stop me from continuing her fight to stop CF.
This year I am being honored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at a special event recognizing outstanding professionals. As part of accepting this honor, I have committed to raising money to continue the mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in making sure that one day CF stands for Cure Found.
My goal is $35,000 as she was 35 when she lost her battle.
Please help me meet my fundraising goal by making a donation. By supporting my fundraising efforts, you will be honoring Alyssa's memory and her friends who are still fighting their battles.
Thank you so much for your support!
Brooke Kibler
To get to know Alyssa yourself, through her own words, please visit the link https://youtu.be/4Q_wA7v_JqE?si=Rts4VlJ2QswkYrPK
What exactly is CF?
Nearly 40,000 people in the United States have cystic fibrosis: a progressive, genetic disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. Sixty years ago, children with CF usually did not live long enough to attend elementary school. Today, because of Foundation-supported research and care, the median survival age of people with CF is over 50. Working alongside the CF community, the CF Foundation has fostered the development of more than a dozen CF treatments and helped add decades of life for people with CF. Yet, many people with CF do not benefit from existing therapies. Our vision is a cure for every person with cystic fibrosis – a life free from the burden of this disease – and we will not leave anyone behind.
To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with cystic fibrosis and hopefully no one will ever have to lose a loved one to CF again.
When Alyssa was born, she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Originally, doctors only provided her and my parents the hope that she would live until she was 16 years old. My parents became dedicated to finding the best care that could be found and ensured that she had the treatment accessible. Not only did they find an incredible team at Hershey Hospital, but they even were able to take her to Texas where they were able to identify a horrible mycobacterium that was fighting against her. As science progressed, new treatments were developed, new medicines were created...and Alyssa's life expectancy kept rising as they became available to her.
Despite frequent visits to the hospital, where she quickly became a "Favorite Patient", she stayed strong and dedicated to fighting. She described breathing as "breathing through a straw" and in the later years, needed to be on oxygen and struggled to walk short distances. But she never let the difficulties of CF bring her down. I think she looked at them as a challenge to overcome. She was determined to continue living her life to the fullest, which included owning numerous animals, including a horse, traveling the world with her best friends and terrorizing me as her little sister. She became a voice in the CF Community Facebook pages and created many friendships with people who were experiencing the same as her and rejoiced when they were thriving and would mourn when someone lost their battle. It's truly heartbreaking the amount of loss that CF patients have to experience because of this disease.
We had many talks about mortality growing up and I always knew that she was sick and wouldn't live forever, but all of those talks seemed surreal and like they would never happen. In October of 2020 all of those conversations came rushing back to me as reality hit... my sister was losing her battle. I live in South Carolina, but she wanted to wait for me to arrive before they pulled her off of the ventilator that was helping her stay with us. I arrived as quickly as I could. She looked at me and said "I love you" in her special way, of pointing at her eye, giving me heart hands and pointing at me. A tear rolled down her eye and I knew in that moment that today was the day. My sister rarely showed sadness as she was always somehow the strongest of all of us despite being the one with the most medical issues and in the most pain. I sat with her for the next 8 hours holding her hand and telling her everything I ever wanted to tell her, even though she was sedated for comfort. By 8:21pm on October 20th, CF had finally defeated my knight in shining armor.
My whole life, my entire family has been dedicated to raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in hopes that Alyssa would remain with us for as long as she could. Because of the advances that science made through the years due to the fundraising efforts of my family and others with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, my sister got to live for 35 INCREDIBLE years. She lived absolutely every single day to the fullest and got to go on some amazing adventures with some of her absolute closest friends. From Scotland to Aruba, Alyssa never let her CF stop her. I will not let CF taking my sister stop me from continuing her fight to stop CF.
This year I am being honored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at a special event recognizing outstanding professionals. As part of accepting this honor, I have committed to raising money to continue the mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in making sure that one day CF stands for Cure Found.
My goal is $35,000 as she was 35 when she lost her battle.
Please help me meet my fundraising goal by making a donation. By supporting my fundraising efforts, you will be honoring Alyssa's memory and her friends who are still fighting their battles.
Thank you so much for your support!
Brooke Kibler
To get to know Alyssa yourself, through her own words, please visit the link https://youtu.be/4Q_wA7v_JqE?si=Rts4VlJ2QswkYrPK
What exactly is CF?
Nearly 40,000 people in the United States have cystic fibrosis: a progressive, genetic disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. Sixty years ago, children with CF usually did not live long enough to attend elementary school. Today, because of Foundation-supported research and care, the median survival age of people with CF is over 50. Working alongside the CF community, the CF Foundation has fostered the development of more than a dozen CF treatments and helped add decades of life for people with CF. Yet, many people with CF do not benefit from existing therapies. Our vision is a cure for every person with cystic fibrosis – a life free from the burden of this disease – and we will not leave anyone behind.
To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with cystic fibrosis and hopefully no one will ever have to lose a loved one to CF again.
JUL
24
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