The Wake

Everyday, Chelsea Votel straps on a big black vest attached to a 17-pound machine. Air pumps through the connecting tubes and into the vest’s hollow lining, producing vibrations that shake free the mucus clinging to her lungs. She ingests four to eight enzymes (proteins that help digest food), eats breakfast and swallows eight or nine pills before heading to class at an all-girls high school in Mendota Heights, where her roster of extracurricular activities includes battling opponents on the lacrosse field, editing the yearbook and singing in a select choir group, to name a few. Before finally sliding beneath her red comforter at night—in a bedroom decorated with dried flowers and pictures of her boyfriend, sister Lindsay, and friends—she’ll have taken at least 26 pills and spent 15 minutes being jostled by The Vest.

Chelsea has cystic fibrosis (CF), a defective gene that causes her body to produce a thick, lung-clogging mucus. Half a century ago, CF was a death sentence. The average patient didn’t make it past kindergarten; their bodies’ excess mucus accelerated typical colds into deadly lung infections and could cause a host of separate diseases, about 65 in all.

But all that is changing. Thanks, in large part, to research conducted at the University of Minnesota, and the money raised by three undergrads: Kate Gustafson, Brian Peterson and Greg Tehven.

“Why don’t we have a 5K on campus?” asked the guys, while the friends raced in the Run for the Pancakes. “Let’s do it!” Kate said, and in a moment of adrenaline induced exhilaration, the 5K Run for Research was born.

Chelsea’s dad, Tom Votel, has raised over a million dollars for CF research—and his unfaltering philanthropic drive seems to have rubbed off on Kate, who spent as much time in the Votel household—playing house with Chelsea, jumping on the giant trampoline, planning for the prom with Lindsay—as she did in her own.

One month after the Pancake run, Kate found herself at Max’s Run for a Reason, raising money for the Sudden Unexplained Death in Children Program. “All these runs raised money for something,” she said. “I wanted to do that too.” Immediately Kate had a plan: to raise money for CF research.

Next came the hard part. Kate, Greg and Brian, then sophomores, had to plan and implement their race. Kate mapped out six different 5K routes, some meandering off campus, before settling on a double loop, from the steps of Northrop to the West Bank and back. They also needed land permission, police officers, waivers for participants to sign, medical staff, t-shirts, fliers, water at the finish, sponsors, an aerobics instructor to lead stretches—and participants.

“Some days I’d have five new voicemails, and it’s like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’” Kate said. But in the end, the stress literally paid off. Over 360 runners turned out on a cool Saturday afternoon in March of 2005, raising $5,100. What wasn’t used to cover race expenses was donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of CF patients and ultimately, finding a cure.

Fast forward to a Tuesday night last December. Kate, Brian and Greg have gathered in Coffman to plan the second annual 5K, but this time they have a group of almost 50 volunteers to help them, including members of the College of Liberal Arts Student Board, Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), Students Today, Leaders Forever, Pi Beta Phi Sorority and University Village.

When asked what her goal is for 2006, Kate’s large blue eyes grow even wider and her voice lifts in cautious excitement. “I really think we’ll double it. I think we’ll get double the participants and double the money.”

This year, every dollar donated is going straight to Dr. Warren Warwick, a 1954 University of Minnesota graduate, founder of the University’s Cystic Fibrosis Clinic (one of the best in the United States), author of over a dozen medical papers and inventor of the Vest, the stereo-stethoscope and a cough that could revolutionize how doctors word the phrase, “Take a deep breath.” Basically, he’s the Superman of CF research.

Need more proof? Then here’s a statistic for you: Today, the average CF patient in the United States has a life expectancy of 35. But Dr. Warwick’s not average, and neither are his patients. They have an average life expectancy of 48—and counting.

“I try to treat patients with cystic fibrosis as partners, and we’re both fighting to find out what’s wrong. I’m not treating them, they and I are together treating their problems.”

It’s this unique approach, coupled with an endless drive and uncommon ingenuity, that has made the University’s CF clinic the darling of the medical world, attracting doctors from across the country eager to get in on Dr. Warwick’s “secret” to success.

Chelsea is one of Dr. Warwick’s 70 CF patients. Every three months, she drives to the Mayo Clinic, a tall building sandwiched between the Superblock and Coffman, for a check-up. In the pulmonary function room, she breathes into a machine that determines how well her lungs are functioning. Next, Dr. Warwick checks her breathing with his stereo-stethoscope, which resembles a normal stethoscope, except that it has two cold, silver ends, used to listen to each individual lobe in her lungs. Later, he looks at the results of the pulmonary function test, and they talk about how she’s doing. The visit takes about two and a half hours, twice as long as it should. But this may be the key to Dr. Warwick’s tremendous achievements—his time and interest in each patient.

Kate, though 55 years younger than Dr. Warwick, embodies the same relentless spirit. And like the wrinkled, soft-spoken doctor, she’s quick to attribute others—especially Brian and Greg—with her ability to succeed. “I could not do this without them,” she wrote in an e-mail. “This whole 5K thing is really about a team effort. I had a vision, they had the tools, and we made it happen together!”