Whenever Stow Youth Football player Tommy Reed bursts through a hole in the defensive line, he’s not just helping his Bulldog teammates defeat their opponent.
He’s also helping himself beat a life-threatening disease.
For 9-year-old Tommy and his twin sister, Julia, active lives could mean longer lives.
To watch the two, few people would suspect they were born with cystic fibrosis, an incurable, inherited disease that affects the lungs and digestive system.
She swims competitively, and he also competes on an elite-level soccer team.
When they’re not at practices, they’re often racing through an elaborate obstacle course their parents constructed in the basement of their Munroe Falls home.
Parents Jason and Chelsea Reed encourage the twins to run, jump, swim and play because of their chronic illness, not despite it.
“It’s just therapy in itself,” their mother said.
The perseverance of the Reed family prompted fellow athletes in the Stow Youth Football program to wear purple socks during games this month for cystic fibrosis awareness while raising $1,700 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Stow Youth Football Director Eddie Norman said the program sold purple socks to raise $1,200 and contributed another $500 from its budget to support the cause.
“We decided to do something for one of our family members,” Norman said. “It’s very difficult to have something like that and play football and everything else they do.”
The football and cheerleading program recently presented the Reed family with a check for the foundation during a pep rally that featured Tommy, a fullback for his team, running through a cystic fibrosis banner.
“This is a fantastic thing,” said the twins’ father, who coaches his older son’s team for Stow Youth Football. “Money buys science, and science buys life. What you guys have done will go a long way for the 30,000 patients in the United States.”
The Reeds discovered Julia had cystic fibrosis when she was born with an intestinal blockage, a complication from the disease. Several weeks later, Tommy also tested positive.
In patients with CF, the body produces thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs, leading to life-threatening lung infections and scarring.
The mucus also obstructs the pancreas, blocking enzymes needed to break down food and absorb nutrients.
“The two basic things in life, they battle — eating and breathing,” their mother said.
The couple’s oldest son, 10-year-old J.R., doesn’t have cystic fibrosis. If both parents are carriers, each child has a one-in-four chance of having the disease.
Since the twins’ diagnosis, germs have became the Reeds’ worst enemy.
“When they would get something, it was always an ordeal,” their father said. “A cold for our older son would be your typical one or two days. A cold for them turned into a month of antibiotics.”
Last winter, the twins were hospitalized with infections that crippled their lung function. A doctor suggested Tommy might need a lung transplant, but he and his sister made full recoveries.
To improve breathing and thwart infections, they rely on aerosolized treatments of antibiotics and mucus-thinning medications at least twice a day. They also wear vests that inflate and vibrate to loosen mucus in their lungs.
Both eat high-calorie foods and drinks and take enzymes to help digest food and absorb nutrients.
And they exercise.
By participating in aerobic activities, the twins strengthen their lungs and move the sticky mucus, said their mom, who teaches fitness classes.
“Running and swimming — all that is very beneficial,” she said.
Studies have shown exercise can help patients get mucus out of their lungs, said the Reeds’ physician, Dr. Kim Spoonhower, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center/Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.
“Some doctors even write prescriptions for exercise,” she said. “With the Reeds, we don’t need to worry about that. They do a great job on their own. They are sort of the models of our exercise promotion.”
Years ago, few patients lived past childhood or were healthy enough for strenuous activity, Spoonhower said. But with treatment advances, many patients today stay active for decades.
“It’s a hopeful time for CF,” she said. “We have adult patients who are still running marathons and they have better times than I could do.”
Tommy’s football coach, Terry Jagger, admits he was worried when he first heard a child with cystic fibrosis was playing on the team.
“But now I don’t think about it,” he said. “He’s just like any other kid. You’d never know it.”
Tommy participates fully in practices and games and doesn’t need extra breaks, Jagger said. Along with playing fullback, Tommy is a cornerback on defense.
“He could play anywhere,” Jagger said. “He’s a really good player.”
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/CherylPowellABJ.