RUN FOR BELLA a marathon to support Bella powell

Bella Powell is a seventeen year old who lives with cystic fibrosis.At only 15 she was told she only had two years to live.

Cystic fibrosis affects the cells that produce mucus. They then plug up the tubes and passageways which puts massive amounts of pressure on the lungs, eventually wearing them out.

Since cystic fibrosis is destroying Bella's lungs, she needs a lung transplant. She was put on the lung transplant list, however a new set of lungs have yet to come and the risk is high, the lungs might not work - she could die on the waiting list or on the operating table.

Living with her condition is like "having a pound of weights on your chest", she says.

"Your ribs can't move, you can't get enough air in. Your body is always sore.

Bella, with nothing to lose, as she faces the reality of losing her life, started taking Trikafta. A drug that's in limited use in New Zealand, and says her breathing had cleared in six hours after taking her first pill.

She takes three pills a day, two in the morning and one at night. Two weeks ago before she started taking them, she could barely walk. But now she says she feels great.

"[It's] more than a miracle. If there's a word that's bigger than a miracle, it's that."

But Trikafta costs $469,000 a year. It's owned by American company Vertex, which sets the price and it isn't subsidised by Government drug-buyer Pharmac.

She also only has a three-month supply.

Generous donors have funded three months of Trikafta for Bella. As any family would, we are looking down all pathways to find more funding to keep Bella breathing!

I will run the marathon in Auckland on November 1 to raise funds and support, if the marathon is cancelled I will do it alone here in wellington(hopefully without the southerly wind).

Please help me raise funds and support the Powell family and most of all Bella.

For the first 500 donations we will donate a pair of 'chandals' jandals to Wellington Shoebox Christmas so we all win.

This is Bellas choice and she wishes to support this fantastic project and group.

https://www.facebook.com/Shoeboxchristmaswellington/