Hi, I'm Becki Short

I am 21 years old, and my brother (Dan Short) has Cystic Fibrosis.

I was tested for the CF gene when I was 14, and I am a carrier of the illness, meaning if I have a child with another carrier of the CF gene, we have 1 in 4 chance of having a child with CF.

Living with a sibling with CF can sometimes be difficult, especially at a young age, you will quite often think they are getting special treatment/attention, when actually it is just because your parents are doing their medicine, or physio with them. There are so many things someone with CF needs to remember to do.

I'm quite lucky in a way, because I can actually meet other people with CF, and mostly understand what they are going through. I can also talk to siblings that don't have CF and try to help them understand it better.

I try not to think about the future regarding my brother too much, because it upsets me to think that there is going to be a time when he isn't here, and as the oldest sibling, I find that a strange concept.

My brother is quite active at the moment, and I love the fact that I can say that, because I know there are some children with CF that aren't that lucky. He and I get along as well as can be expected, and most of the time you forget that he is ill.

I got involved with CFK when I started organizing my dance-a-thon for The CF Trust, and decided to also raise funds for the local CF charity too (CFK). I went along to one of the meetings and quickly managed to get appointed as webmaster! I have also been voted in as a Trustee too, and I'm looking forward to the future.

In 2011 I organised my first Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party for CFK, and it is now an annual event. You can find out more from the website for The Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party.