Warm soup and supper, plus a warm message, heartened galagoers at the seventh annual Breath of Life, supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The honoree was insurance man Greg Hatcher of The Hatcher Agency, although he hasn't been affected by the disease.
"You know, I was introduced to CF by Jerry Pavlas and Jeff Flake. I've met several CF families and, of course, I didn't have any idea what the disease was about before."
Cystic Fibrosis is the name given a genetic mutation that causes the body to produce a sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and disables the pancreas, inhibiting regular digestion. About one in 10,000 children and adults in the United States has it.
Hatcher says he was inspired to give because "this disease, you live with it every day, and they've really expanded the lives of these kids. They're living a lot longer. And it's a very courageous disease. I mean, the more you work out the better."
Hatcher knows the benefits of exercise. He works out seven days a week, he says, was a wrestler in school and played soccer and baseball.
The keynote speaker was Katherine Lambert Pennington, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Memphis. In 1974, when she was diagnosed, doctors told her parents their daughter would live to be about 7. Instead of sheltering her, her parents pushed her to be an athlete. Now, at 42, she has outlived the life expectancy -- 37 -- of cystic fibrosis patients and has begun the process of getting a lung transplant.
Pennington is a life-long beneficiary of the foundation's work, but the gala drew others like Hatcher, who "are here just because they're generous, they have good spirits, they want to make the world a better place, and I'm sitting here thinking, 'Wow, I'm so incredibly grateful that people would think that this is important enough,'" she said.
-- Photos and story by
Bobby Ampezzan
High Profile on 11/09/2014