During her ride back to Birmingham after a speaking engagement with sororities at the University of Alabama, she explained her passion for swimming.“You don’t have to think if you had a bad day or a good day. You just go out there and relax . . . I swim about an hour-and-a-half four times a week.” Emily has been addressing audiences for years as part of her effort to raise money for cystic fibrosis. “I get really nervous and my face turns red, but once I get going I do pretty good. The biggest crowd has been about 250 people, except for [being on] the radio.”

Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disorder. Genes are inherited in pairs, with one gene from each parent. A person with CF inherits a defective gene from both parents. Individuals with a single faulty gene don’t usually have any noticeable CF symptoms and may not be aware that they have the defective gene. The most serious symptoms are glandular secretions of the respiratory and digestive tracts, characterized by the production of thick mucus. People with CF are prone to lung infections, often dying at a young age. The disease gets shuffled to the bottom of corporate research priorities due to the small number of the population that is afflicted.

Since her fundraising began, Emily Schreiber has raised well over half a million dollars for cystic fibrosis research.

 

“It’s an orphan disease,” says Emily’s father, Allen Schreiber. Schreiber started the board for the Alabama chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in 2003. “CF affects your pulmonary system. We’ve been fortunate that [Emily’s] lungs are still really good. Every kid is affected differently,” he explains. “I think swimming has obviously helped her have good lung- functioning. My sons are 17 and 15, and they can’t swim 100 laps,” he adds, laughing. “If you looked at me, you’d know [I can’t] swim a hundred laps . . . It’s a challenge for her. I’m proud of the fact that she’s not so worried about how fast she is, she’s just going to get it done. CF is one of those things which is up and down. You do well, then you have bacterial infections and you have to go into the hospital for several weeks or get on strong antibiotics at home. You do well for a while. The thing about cystic fibrosis is that it is a genetic disease. Every day it gets worse. In 1990, children lived to only eight years old. Now the median age is 34, I think. It’s still the number one genetic killer of children.”

Emily, presently a Mountain Brook Junior High seventh grader, began swimming with the Birmingham Swim League at age eight. She was inspired to raise money for CF by reading the book Karen’s New Bike, a story about a little girl who rides her bicycle to raise money for a library. Emily and her father started “Laps for CF” in 2005 but she swam her first “swim-a-thon” in 2003 with an initial goal of $3,000. She did 65 laps at Wald Pool in Vestavia and raised $60,000. The next year she swam 85 laps and increased pledges to $85,000. Auburn swim coach Dave Marsh took notice, and, in 2005, Emily took her show on the road to Auburn’s Martin Aquatics Center, the home of the top collegiate swimming program in the nation. With help from the Auburn swim team, Emily raised $212,000 that year. On April 8, 2006 she surpassed a $250,000 goal by $2,000 at Auburn. Emily swam 100 laps [66 laps equal one mile], attracting more than 1,000 observers to the fundraiser. The teen has also been featured in Sports Illustrated twice, where she was quoted: “Laps for CF is a way my bad news can be an opportunity in disguise . . . If not for me, but for others.”

Since her fundraising began, Emily Schreiber has raised well over half a million dollars for cystic fibrosis research. On April 22, Emily will swim 100 laps at the University of Alabama’s Aquatic Center at 1 p.m. The nationally ranked Crimson Tide swim team will be in attendance to log a few laps as well.

There’s no cure for cystic fibrosis, yet. But Emily is enthusisatic about the primary motivation behind her work: “Every amount of money that we make is to help somebody get better,” she says. After being thanked for the interview, the charming young swimmer replies with the cool, detached demeanor of a true champion: “No problem.” &

To donate, call 205-939-9675 or visit www.lapsforcf.org.