1,000 Paper Cranes

I would like to introduce you to two of my good friends. Sarah and Yvonne. Sarah and I went to grade school together and we met Yvonne in jr. high. Sarah has Cystic Fibrosis. CF is a life- threatening genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. When we were in jr. high, the life expectancy for someone with CF was about 18-21 years of age. Thanks to medical research and advances the average expected survival age is now about 37 years!

When we were in jr. high, we all read the book "One Thousand Paper Cranes" for our English class. It's the true story of a Japanese girl named Sadako who survived when Hiroshima was bombed during WWII. She suffered for 10 years of Atomic Bomb Disease before surrendering to the disease. "In Japan the crane is a traditional sign of long life and good fortune. According to folk tale, if one crane represented a thousand years of happiness, then a thousand cranes would mean one million years of happiness." - One Thousand Paper Cranes

One of the projects our class did was make 1,000 paper cranes for the sick children up at Dornbecher Children's Hospital. Sarah, Yvonne and I used to sit in the library and fold paper cranes for our class.

In the summer of 1999 Sarah became very ill and was in the hospital for quite a long period of time. Yvonne and I went to visit her and were struck by the reality of her disease. On the way home, we talked of how we were at the age that we used to dread for Sarah. That day we decided to make her 1,000 paper cranes.

Over the next ten years, Yvonne went away to college, I got married and had three children and she moved across the country to work as a copy editor for a newspaper. Every chance we had together we would try and fold as many cranes as possible. They moved with me several times. They even sat forgotten the year after my twins were born.

Finally, after several years, Yvonne and I were living in the same state again! We got really determined one night and had a marathon folding session to finish the last 200 cranes. But we still had a probelm. How were we going to present them to Sarah? We couldn't just hand her 5 boxes full of folded cranes. We had to come up with some sort of beautiful way to display them. We were at a loss... so they sat for almost a whole year, until we had an idea!

We finally came up with what you see in the pictures. There are 900 cranes on the bottom in strings of 50. The last 100 are displayed on top of the shelf. We are finally finished! Sarah loves them and is excited to put them in her newly remodeled craft room.

Today Sarah is in good health. But the fact remains that her disease will eventually claim her life if no cure is found. Together, the three of us will be participating in the Great Strides Walk on May 15th in Portland Oregon. The greater goal is to raise funds to help find a cure for CF. Our team goal is to raise $1,000, but I think we can blow that out of the water. With the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation about 90 cents out of every dollar goes to the research. If you would like to make a donation and help our team reach our goal you can do it easily and safely online at www.cff.org/Great_Strides/JessicaBanister We greatly appreciate your part in helping find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis!