Torquay family keeps up the fight against CYSTIC FIBROSIS

Ellie-May Jury makes growing up with a life-limiting condition look effortless, but hours of the bubbly school girl’s daily routine is spent managing cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder affecting the lungs and the digestive system.

Each day the 11-year-old takes a multitude of tablets, including an enzyme supplement and antibiotics, engages in a minimum of half an hour to an hour of intensive physiotherapy, eats a highcalorie diet, and makes a conscious effort to steer clear from germs and bacteria.

One in 25 people carry the CF gene, with one copy from each parent during conception causing a child to inherit the condition. In Australia, one in 2,500 babies are born with CF, equating to one every four days.

Jenny, Ellie’s optimistic and devoted mother, said she didn’t have an in-depth understanding about CF when she was told Ellie had the condition six weeks after her birth.

“I had heard of the word, but I don’t know… I think at the time I was thinking of spina bifida and all those words that come to mind and I thought ‘ok, let’s go and have a look at what this really is’”, the Jan Juc mother of two said.