Joseph Barker

The motivator for Funds For Fighters’ second annual event is our cousin, Joey Barker. Joey was born with a disease called Cystic Fibrosis that affects the lungs and many other organs. Symptoms vary from patient to patient but often include coughing, shortness of breath, frequent infections, poor growth, and infertility. According to CFF.org, there are around 40,000 people living with CF in the United States. There is no cure for CF yet but treatments, quality of life, and life expectancy continue to increase as more research is done. The life expectancy went from 5 years old in the 1950s, to 31 years old in the 1990s, and now has reached 53 years old. 

Joey was diagnosed with CF shortly after he was born. Daily care for him over the years has included at least two different breathing treatments, chest percussive therapy to break up mucus in the lungs, pancreatic enzymes to help digest food, various vitamins, and more recently, a genetic modulator pill to help correct the genetic defect component of CF. 

The most difficult part of living with CF for Joey has been the frequent hospital admissions that he’s needed for IV antibiotics to fight lung infections. Being hospitalized so often makes it hard to live a normal, scheduled life. Joey has had over 10 different types of surgeries and many more hospitalizations. He says that the hardest thing for him to recover from so far was when he had to be put on a ventilator in 2022, due to a septic blood infection along with pneumonia and a staff infection. The ventilator was necessary because of the extent of his condition. He had been told in the past that if he ever needed a ventilator, there was a good chance he would never come off. However, Joey beat the odds and the ventilator was removed only a few days later and a couple more later he was able to return home. 

Although CF is a tough disease to live with, he’s found support in his close family and his wife who have helped him keep going through surgeries, hospital stays, and other health scares. He’s also been able to see some positive changes in the CF world to keep him positive, such as the development of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapies. This helps the body get the CFTR protein working which helps to produce enough fluid to thin the mucus that is responsible for causing frequent lung infections. 

When asked what Joey wanted more people to know about Cystic Fibrosis, he said “I’d like more people to know that CF isn’t just a lung disease. It affects pretty much everything in your body. Lungs, sinuses, digestive system, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and even the reproductive systems”. Funds For Fighters is working hard to not only raise money to help support those with CF but also to educate our community about this disease. Please join us in our mission!