I attended the Breathe Hope service event in the Union on Thursday, November 15th. Breathe Hope is a club that raises money and gains support for people with cystic fibrosis, an incurable lung disease. They have a lot of events for people in the club throughout the semester, and also a lot of service events helping people with cystic fibrosis that are in the hospital. I know someone who has died from complications stemming from cystic fibrosis, so it made me productive to do something that helps people affected by the disease. In this case, we cut and tied blankets for patients in the hospital who have CF. It brought me a little comfort to know that the blankets I was making could bring someone who is suffering a little bit of comfort. It helped me realize that I want to incorporate service in any field I go into, and throughout every stage in my life. I also want to make service events like this more prevalent throughout my academic career, because it gave me a nice break from my weekly routine and was still productive. I’ve never done a service event that I didn’t directly help someone in need, and this it was refreshing to just be a nameless, faceless supporter. I have learned about genetic diseases before in some of my course work, but never specifically CF, so it was interesting to learn a little bit more about a disease that affects many young people. This topic relates to International Affairs because it’s a disease that affects people worldwide – not just in our own community. Although the blankets we made are for people in our community, the disease does not stay within Columbus city limits. The club also holds events that help people with CF across the nation, so it does not just target one demographic. Attending this event makes me wonder how many other clubs on campus there are that target a specific disease, and I wonder if they are all as popular as this one. It seems like this club has many members, but I think this is because CF affects a lot of people. I hope that the club has more events like this in the future, and I was thinking I should probably attend some more informative ones to better my understand of CF and how it manifests itself in people’s bodies. I think it’s especially interesting that CF is incurable, and is only made bearable by regular breathing treatments. I also was wondering if people in the club that I met have CF, and how their lives are affecting by having it along with being a University student. I would guess that it would depend on the severity of the disease, but having to walk all across campus seems like a daunting task with a lung disease. I also wonder if students with CF get accommodations. These are all questions I would ask the speaker had there been more time to talk, and if we weren’t just all making blankets.