Lebanon Co. When you hear words like “lung-damaging disease” you tend to think of smog bound cities with narrow, treeless alleys and factories belching smoke. But that’s not necessarily the case. Amid the farmlands of southewestern Lebanon County, not far from historic Umberger’s Mill, lives seven-year-old David Umberger. David was bom with cystic fibrosis, an in curable hereditary disease which affects the lungs and the digestive system. David, the younger of two sons of Donald and Florence Umberger of R 4, Lebanon, CLICK'S Distributor for ROOFING & SPOUTING BAKED ENAMEL TIN ROOFS Colors: Turquoise, Red, White ALSO BAKED ALUMINUM Colors: Green, White, Tan, Red. FULL SERVICE DEALER SALES & INSTALLATION SAMUEL B. CLICK R.D.I, Kinzer, PA Ph. (717) 442-4921 Please call before 7 A.M. or after 6 P.M. 25% Jwkson Farm & Home Supply Co. 25% w** l STORE-WIDE CLOSE OUT SALE "f®"" 1 THROUGH OCTOBER • DAILY HOURS: 7 to 5, SATURDAYS 7 to 12 FARM EQUIPMENT 16’ Portable Elevator Aluminum 19’ Portable Hay Conveyor 21' Portable Hay Conveyor Grain Augers Rotary Cutters Rear Tractor Blades 3-Point P.T.O. Cement Mixer 3 Point Hitch Accessories Hydraulic Pumps Hydraulic Fittings Stock Tanks Hog Feeders Hog Waterers Mineral Feeders Calf Crib Feeders Sprayer Parts Wagon Gears Implement Tires - Panel Gates Jackson Farm & Homo Supply Co ■ We are closing out our store during month of October and DISTRIBUTOR OF* CENTRAL TRACTOR PARTS CO* relinquishing, also, our Central Tractor Parts Company poijtp • pa i 7twt7 Distributorship - which will be assumed by a local company, to be ROUTE IP 3 MYERSTOWN, PA. I 7067 announced in future advertising. PHONE: (717) 933-4151 OR (717) 933-4152 ALL inventory must be sold by October 3ist. locution; Follow signs olong Route 645, three miles north of Myerstown, Po. has been selected as the 1975 poster child for the Central Pennsylvania Chapter, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation with headquarters in Harrisburg. As the poster child, David recently participated in a proclamation signing ceremony in the governor’s office at the capitol in Harrisburg. Governor Shapp went down on his knees to greet David, and the two chattered face to face, ap parently oblivious to the confusion and milling people all around them. The governor took the occasion to call upon all citizens of the Anti Oil and Filters Carburetors Sleeve Assemblies and Overhaul Sets Brake Parts- Clutch Parts Water Pumps Tune Up Kits Rebuilt Magnetos Rebuilt Generators Rebuilt Starters Front Tires I & T Shop Manuals boy selected C.F. poster boy Commonwealth to give recognition and support to the worthwhile efforts of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundations. Cystic fibrosis is the number one genetic killer of children in the U.S. today. Children are born with the disease when both parents carry the C-F gene. It has been estimated that nearly a quarter million persons in the U.S. carry the gene, but as yet there is no sure way of testing for the defect. The Umbergers learned that their son had cystic fibrosis when he was just 27 months of age. A series of respiratory infections led them to a specialist who made the diagnosis. He sent the family to the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at Harrisburg Polyclinic Hospital, one of only three such facilities in Pennsylvania. The other two are at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. For about a year, the Umbergers took David up to Harrisburg to the clinic every week. Then it was every month, then every other month. Today, David visits the clinic once every three months. Thanks to modern medication and therapy techniques • the result of Foundation research - David’s disease is presently under control. A day in the life of a child with cystic fibrosis is a day iii which concentrated effort is expended merely to keep breathing. Upon arising, during the day and before retiring, David receives inhalation therapy and ERIES ir, Truck actor postural drainage therapy for about 15 minutes per session. David has an aerosol mist machine with a face mask. The 'machine pumps medicated mist which David inhales deeply into his lungs. There, the medication works to break up the thick mucus which clogs the air passages. For about ten minutes at a time, David’s mother gives him postural drainage therapy. This involves David’s lying face down, with pillows piled beneath his stomach and waist, so that the lung and chest area is lower than the rest of his body. Mrs. Umberger then firmly taps David on the back and sides, in the lung area, with cupped hands. This helps to loosen the mucus in the lungs so that David can cough it up and breathe more freely. At night, David again breathes the medicated mist. He sleeps within a plastic tent, into which the mist is pumped throughout f • saKyrayfua women s convention much of the night, coughing and wheezing and gasping for breath. Although to the casual observer the Umbergers might seem to have reason to be depressed, the family is a cheerful, optimistic group. “We are fortunate,” says Mrs. Umberger, “that David was born in 1968. If he had been bom 10 or 15 years earlier, we might not still have him with us. Back in Lancaster Farming, Saturday. Oct. 4.197& the 1950'a, when the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was first organized, children with OF usually did not reach school age. "Now, because of the research and education functions of the Foundation, many cystic fibrosis children are reaching 18 and 20 years of age. “The Foundation,” she declares earnestly, "is buying time for children with cystic fibrosis and other lung-damaging diseases.” Mrs. Umberger works hard for the Foundation. She is a member of the board of directors of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She is currently serving as Rural Southwestern Musical “Them There Guys,” a meeting, awards will be local musical group, will be presented for best local the featured entertainment society scrapbooks, at at the Berks County Society tendance and safety of Farm Women annual programs. Attendance is convention to be held Oc- expected to total over one tober 4, 1975 at the Kutztown hundred fifty including Grange Hall. Another part of many presidents from the program will be a talk on counties throughout the state flower arranging by Audrey and state president, Mrs. Ann of Fleetwood. In ad- Ruth Richards, dition to the annual business Lebanon County Chairman for the Breath of Life Campaign to raise funds to support the Foundation’s activities. The Umbergers and other parents of cystic fibrosis children are working diligently to help raise funds to aid in research which may result in a cure for the disease. Eventually, the Foundation hopes to be able to trace the gene which causes the disease and to wipe out cystic fibrosis completely. In the meantime, through research and education, it is helping to keep children breathing and living - whether they live in crowded cities or in a sunny Lebanon County. group featured at 31
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers