The belief that CF can be treated and overcome was definitely on display in March at the 16th Annual Booming Celebration at New York’s Waldorf=Astoria Hotel. The Boomer Esiason Foundation’s biggest annual fundraiser attracted more than 700 people and raised nearly $2 million to fight CF.

Booming Celebration took its cue this year from the theme of an English class essay by Gunnar Esiason, a high school senior: This I Believe.

To open the evening’s ceremonies, Gunnar read his essay, which reflected both the challenges that he and 30,000 other Americans with CF face. And he spoke about the many triumphs they have achieved. “Every day of the past 17 years of my life has been a fight in an ongoing war to stay alive,” said Gunnar. “It has been a war I must fight physically and mentally, a war I cannot fight alone, a war with no clear end in sight, and most importantly, a war I will not lose …"

For more on the 2009 event, click here to view the Event Wrap-Up PDF.