Amelia runs the London Marathon for her valentine

It sounds like ‘cheese on toast’ but us meeting was fate. David lives in Deal, Kent, and I live in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. We were both on the dating app Bumble and I had my radius set to 30 miles, so because we lived 110 miles apart we would have never met.  

However, one weekend in June 2019, David went to London and so he fell within my distance radius allowing me to swipe yes to him! He said that my photo was on his list for two weeks but covered so he paid £6.99 to reveal his matches. This meant I could then send him a message and the rest was history. It’s my favourite story of all time!  

Navigating our relationship and CF 

David told me on our first date that he had CF. We were in a pub and he just said something along the lines of “I just wanted to let you know in case you want to change your mind, but I've got this thing, you may not of heard of it, it's called CF”. I then responded, “Oh cystic fibrosis”. I could tell David felt quite shy telling me so I just made light of it and said “Don't worry, we’re two ‘osis's’ together because I've got neurofibromatosis”.

The respect I had for David telling me straight away was just incredible and it never once changed a thing about how I felt.  

When it comes to dealing with CF, David's a lot better at this than me! His mentality towards CF is so inspirational. I'm a very emotional person so the moment David gets chesty and needs a hospital visit I'm worrying. I cry a lot and David just reassures me, talks me through it and comforts me. As for me supporting him, I just try and be there for him as much as I can and to be a good girlfriend.  

Our advice for other couples living with CF would be to communicate. Be open and honest with each other all the time. Live each day full of happiness and love for each other. Be each other’s best friend, every single day!  

Running the London Marathon for the Trust 

I did the marathon in 2019 and actually finished on a fractured ankle. It ate up my time, so I swore I wanted to do it again to try and better myself but wanted to wait for the right opportunity to do so. Then I met David and learnt about CF, so thought there's no better cause to do it for than the Trust. I know I'm biased but I really am in awe of David every day and how he just gets on with life without ever complaining. I want to run for David, for every CF warrior and every person who's sadly lost their life to it. You are all so incredible and if running 26.2 miles is even a tiny show of admiration, I would do it a thousand times over. 

It sounds soppy but in the toughest moments, knowing David's at the finish line will get me through. He struggles daily with the stairs, so if he can do that day to day with no complaints I can take on the marathon. 

A special thing to do

When Amelia told me (David) she was running the Marathon it was definitely unexpected. It’s a special thing to do. Not only raising money, which would be thoughtful on its own, but to actually run 26.2 miles... it’s incredible and hopefully the amount of people sponsoring her and the amount she raises will put into perspective how amazing it is.  

The importance of research 

We know that the money raised can contribute to more research, which is arguably the most important aspect of the CF journey because more research means more tests and studies which in turn leads to life-changing treatments to give people a better quality of life. 

I don’t benefit from modulators like Kaftrio and of course it’s not nice knowing you can’t have a drug that can help. But I can’t change that, so for me it’s a ‘it is what it is’ moment. I had a biopsy taken a couple of years ago which was sent to a lab so they can test and trial new drugs that hopefully I could benefit from. So to reiterate, research is so important!  

My (David) hope for the future is to enjoy life to the best of my abilities and hope the research continues to give everyone with CF a longer fighting chance.  

If you’re inspired by David and Amelia’s story and would like to take on your own challenge as part of #TeamCF, you can find the event for you here.  

Join #TeamCF

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. It affects more than 10,800 people in the UK. One in 25 of us carries the faulty gene that causes it, usually without knowing.

Since 1964, we've supported people with cystic fibrosis to live longer, healthier lives - and we won’t stop until everyone can live without limits imposed by CF.