Chesney's Story
Summary
Chesney Lee Janney Slagle is a 24 years old, beautiful girl, living daily through the struggle of life with Cystic Fibrosis.
Chesney was born with a genetic disease called Cystic Fibrosis. She has been fighting to stay as healthy as she can be since she took her first breathe. With numerous surgeries and continuously long hospitals stays she has persevered thus far. But today, the fight is getting harder and longer for her.
We need our friends, family, co-workers, friends of friend, people that just share common empathy of humans and their struggles to join us in this fight by two ways – if you believe in the power of prayer, please keep her in your everyday prayers, as well as, through the multiple ways to donate to her financial needs as she continues this fight. Her doctors said it is time to ask for help so we have gathered an army to help her in this courageous and continuous fight.
Chesney's Life Outside of CF
Outside of her daily fight with CF, Chesney prides her self on living her life to the fullest in every moment - as much as her body will allow. She loves to spend time with her family and friends during garage karaoke parties.
Chesney is an animal lover at heart, having worked at various shelters and veterinarian clinics since her graduation. She has rescued many dogs and currently has four pups she adores - Ayla, Benelli, Kyla and Dink.
When her illness allows, you can find Chesney out hunting for deer and turkey season or spending as much time as possible with her five nieces and nephews, whom she loves to snuggle any chance she can!
The Fight
Chesney wasn’t even 24 hrs old and she had her first surgery – they removed a piece of her intestines. I remember it so clearly, as her mom, thinking how can they operate on this tiny little 5 lb baby – it blew my mind.
Then we had plenty of time where she had many long weeks in the hospital for bowel blockages, breathing issues, pneumonia, the list goes on and on, she just had a feeding tube put in this week in an effort to help her gain some weight and get healthier for the next surgery.
When she was in high school, she had to get a port put in to administer the medication. The port literally blew apart inside of her and she had to have surgery to remove it. They had to bring in a special tool to take a piece of it out of the lower ventricle of her heart. This was a dangerous and long surgery. Then she had to have another surgery to put a new one in. I remember as soon as I was able to go back with her, she was ready to get up, get dressed, and get out of there so she could get chicken fingers on the way home. Always a good sign to me when she asked for food!
She rarely complains or asks for things, she fights quietly.
I have rarely seen her in tears, she's a fighter, she's strong.
But now we need to be strong for her in our faith and we need to help her financially. Her doctors have told her no more working – that’s hard too for several reasons she likes to work, she liked her job and she has bills just as we all do. It’s hard to wrap your head around it and know what questions to ask, make sure what they give you isn’t something you're allergic to and to share updates with loved ones.
Her doctors were amazed that she made it to her first birthday, and now she is 24 years old. She beat the first hurtle now it’s time to get through the next. We were told by her doctors when she was 3 that her life expectancy was to age 30, that’s 6 more years. For her family, that isn’t enough time – she has hope and we have faith. As I tell her – your heart has to be in it to win it. So now we need all of your hearts in it to win this with her.
So we are asking all of you for help so we can focus on the care and love Chesney needs and deserves. Will you find it in your heart to give.
