IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADULT CYSTIC FIBROSIS PATIENTS
The purpose of the Spiritus Project is to provide various forms of direct, need-based financial assistance to adult cystic fibrosis patients in an effort to reduce stress and provide an improved quality of life. The focus of the Spiritus Project is to assist North Carolina-based cystic fibrosis patients whose primary care is delivered via the UNC Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center.
To date, we have now touched the lives of adult cystic fibrosis patients over 2,700 times since our founding in 2015. Some impacts were big, some were small, but all mattered!
Jessica Link noticed that small measures could have large impacts on the quality of life for fellow patients increasingly during her cystic fibrosis-related hospitalizations in her later years. Her compassion to create a better life for other adult cystic fibrosis patients led her to develop the concept for this project. She landed on "spiritus" as it symbolized both the painful reality of breathing with the unyielding optimism with which she faced life. Jessica believed in this endeavor so much that she acquired the personalized license plate "SPIRITUS" for her car.
In keeping with the theme of breath and spirit, Jessica often cited a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
It is with this background that we embraced Jessica's plan to improve the quality of life for her fellow adult cystic fibrosis patients. Jessica left this earth in early 2015, but her spirit and desire lives on with the Spiritus Project.
Breathe easy, Jessica!