When life gives you lemons, you've got two options.
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You can sit around and be sad or you can use your pain to help others going through a similar ordeal.
Julia Laybutt did the latter by forming the Goulburn and District Cystic Fibrosis Appeals Committee in 1971.
She lost her four-year-old daughter Kelly in the early '70s due to cystic fibrosis.
Ms Laybutt said she took her to Camperdown Hospital because she felt something wasn't right. She stayed there for six weeks.
"She couldn't keep any food down and was vomiting it out all the time.
"She was constantly coughing her food back up and wasn't putting any weight on at all.
"Kelly was diagnosed at seven-months-old, but it was only because the hospital was putting every child with any chest condition through a sweat test."
Ms Laybutt had never heard of cystic fibrosis before the diagnosis, but was kindly informed by the staff at the hospital.
"They settled her onto treatments that they were happy with," she said.
"We had learnt how to handle her condition at home.
"We had occasional babysitters and things like that, but Kelly was a very severe case.
"It was difficult for us to hand over her care to other people."
Looking after Kelly was a lot of hard work and came with heartache and heartbreak.
To make things worse, Medicare didn't exist in the country at the time.
"Those were the days before the existence of Medicare, so you took out your own health insurance if you could afford it."
Although that was a very traumatic time of her life, she still managed to find the light out of the tunnel by starting up the Appeals Committee, now known as Cystic Fibrosis Goulburn and District.
At the time, Ms Laybutt said Kelly was going through a heavy bout of pneumonia at Goulburn Base Hospital.
"I used to go to the cystic fibrosis meetings in Sydney and the idea came up of fundraising in different areas," Ms Laybutt said.
"I brought that idea home and that was when she had pneumonia.
"Word got around of Kelly's condition and a lot of people heard about how sick she was.
"It created an atmosphere where people felt the time was right to start fundraising."
Ms Laybutt found out there were others with the disorder including one in Gunning and one in Crookwell.
The families got together for a meeting and that was how the Goulburn and District Cystic Fibrosis Appeals Committee was formed.
The committee received a lot of support in the early stages and Ms Laybutt said that was due to a cystic fibrosis film she brought to Goulburn.
"The disorder was not recognised as a disability back then," she said.
"Cystic Fibrosis NSW was only a few years old and was struggling to achieve a long list of purposes they wanted to provide for the families.
"Local doctors told our group we were setting ourselves a hopeless task because of the rarity of the disorder and the fact no one knew what it was.
"We brought a film to Goulburn, loaned a huge movie projector, got lessons on how to use it and took the film to 40 showings in a month.
"We showed service clubs, school P and Cs, church groups and interest groups.
"The film made people sit up and take notice of the disorder.
"Goulburn Base Hospital was a teaching hospital at the time and because of the awareness we created, the hospital was one of the first in the state to introduce the new born heel prick testing for cystic fibrosis."
In the early '70s, local parents of kids with the disorder didn't want monetary help for themselves, but wanted funds to go towards finding a cure.
"We wanted to find treatments and above all, the cause and cure.
"We fundraised by hosting events like barbecues, morning teas and luncheons, raffles, street stalls, fashion parades, fruit picking, jam making."
Fifty years on, there have been many changes and a lot of progress has been made.
"CF is now recognised as a disability.
"The discovery of the CF gene is helping researchers to develop a better understanding of the many mutations of CF and the development of specific treatments for some of them.
"CF NSW has also grown to be able to provide the many services that it wanted to provide to the sufferers and their families."
To help raise funds for cystic fibrosis, head over to the annual 65 Roses charity dinner on Saturday, May 29 at the Goulburn Workers Club from 7pm.
Tickets are $50, include a two course meal and can be bought at the reception desk of the Workers Club.
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