Meet Claire

Born on April 10th, 1997, in Austin Texas. Claire Wineland was a gift from heaven. When Claire was born, her parents did not know about the illness that was inside her until the next day. When her doctors gave her an ultra sound, they induced labor on the child. The doctors said "There's something wrong with the baby". A nightmare no parent wants to hear on their newborn baby. A few days pass and up until that time, they had no idea what was happening. They found out later that her intestines burst and there was a cyst in her abdomen.

Despite this, she was a trooper. This unfortunate disease did not destroy her spirit. She remained happy and grateful for everyday she received. She truly was a blessing.

Claire a few days after she was born.

"She looked like E.T"

"She had the biggest smile on her face. Just a happy baby."

~John Wineland (Claire's Dad)

As a parent is it hard to entirely understand why things such as Cystic Fibrosis. Most children are born without any problems and it was very unfortunate to have an amazing girl such as Claire to be lost too soon. As she grew older, her enthusiasm and spirit grew immensely. As for her parents, it was uncertain how her parents were feeling during this time. What can be said for certainty is that her parents would remember where her disease all began, when she was born.

Claire smiling through countless therapy sessions

"Claire Wineland was a person who did not like to be pitied. According to her, pitying ill people was disempowering them. She loved every moment of her life, even those days when she was in hospital. She decorated her hospital room, and posted inspirational messages on its walls."(The Famous People)

The beginning of her career...

Regarding Claire's career, it was an incredible story. In April of 2010, after a routine surgery. She was placed in a medically-induced coma with a 1% chance of surviving. After sixteen days of being in a coma, she came back to life. So many people were inspired by her story. Eventually, she create a nonprofit organization called "Claire's Place Foundation". This organization supported the community in two different forms. One being an emotional support for volunteers, the other being family support which would financially support families with treatment. From a previous estimate, the foundation had fostered around twenty six families. Claire recently was working with a man named Justin Baldoni who created the film "My Last Days". Through time, their friendship grew immensely and Baldoni created a good foundation for Claire. Richard Baldoni, a worldwide renown public speaker coached Claire because he was so inspired and knew that she could speak about what she was truly about. Thus, public speaking became Claire's career. She was constantly speaking at different rallies. One of her speaking opportunities was a ted talk.

Despite all the controversy with her illness, she forever remained a happy-minded advocate for individuals that deal with a relative pain. Mental or physical, she was happy to be that reaching hand for others.

Around this time, her lungs were going info end stage lung disease. She was very against lung transplants until she wanted to do more with her life. The following is her last Instagram post on August 26th, 2018.

"We some cheese balls just cheesing it up. So grateful for everything this month. I'm grateful for all the people who donated to help me get through transplant. I'm grateful for the doctors that'll be scooping out these lungs and giving me some more life to work with. I'm grateful for the chance to keep being a person. I'm grateful for my own head and for all the weird things in it. I'm just really overwhelmingly grateful for all of this. There is no passionate rant to e had here I am just happy and thought I would let you all know. ~Claire W.

Around September 2nd, 2018, Claire had a massive stroke. Ironically, she did not die due to the cause of her disease but to a natural cause. Her death was very peaceful according to doctors. What would you do? Would you wished you met her? From my personal experience, I was heartbroken by the news. The world seemed more gray without her for many reasons. She really teaches you how to respect and appreciate the life that you're given.