The Abbie Fennessy Trust has been established in memory of a truly inspirational young woman. Abbie was a gorgeous 23 year old who fought a constant battle in her daily life with Cystic Fibrosis. She was, and still is dearly loved by all she touched throughout her life. Abbie constantly amazed us with her brilliant smile and hearty chuckle despite the crippling illness she was battling. Daily physiotherapy, medications, blood sugar monitoring, insulin, ventolin and respiratory exercises were necessities to help clear infection. A life in and out of hospital with regular 'tune ups' and operations meant she had many challenges, that most will never face in their life time. 'Tune ups' were needed when she was too sick for regular treatment, hospital stays for IV antibiotics & round the clock care were vital. Her stays in hospital ranged from 2 weeks to 3 months at a time. It was always a very tiring and stressful time for Abbie & her family. Exercise was always important but became more difficult as Abbie got older and her lungs got worse. She managed to graduate high school and university with flying colours, and began a career in Health Promotion - which she loved. Breathing was always labourious especially when her lungs were down to 18% capacity and she required 24/7 oxygen assistance. Abbie was on the list for a lung transplant but unfortunately rapidly became very sick, her lungs filling with blood and infection.
In 2012 we lost our beautiful Abbie when this awful illness got too much for her fragile body to handle.
Abbie showed us not to take a single breath for granted.
She will forever remain in our hearts and we will continue to fight for her and others like her, as much as she fought to try to live free from Cystic Fibrosis every single day.
We have set up this trust fund in conjunction with Cystic Fibrosis Community Care to honour Abbie's life and encourage other young adults living with Cystic Fibrosis. Our aim is to raise money to support these amazing individuals who are fighting this debilitating illness every day.