A GIANT STEP GIRL BRINGS FUND-RAISER TO TOWN.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Kristina de Bree, like many other 15-year-olds, likes to shop, talk on the phone, and has been dropping hints about a new, green Volkswagen Bug for her next birthday.

But unlike other kids her age, Kristina takes more than 20 pills each day and misses about 70 days of school each year. She has weekly medical tests and doctor appointments and has undergone more than 40 surgeries since she was an infant.

At 5 weeks of age, Kristina was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus, impairing breathing and digestion and leading to life-threatening lung infections. Currently, there is no cure and the average life expectancy is 32.

``I'm strong, but I'm sick all the time,'' Kristina said.

But Teresa de Bree is driven to help her daughter's fight against the disease, including getting involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the hopes of finding a cure.

In October, she proposed bringing the annual Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides walk, which they have participated in the past four years, to Valencia.

After a year of planning and distributing more than 400 letters to community members, friends, family and local businesses, the walk will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday at Valencia Meadows Park.

Proceeds from the 10K walk will fund research for the disease that afflicts 30,000 children and adults in the United States, with 1,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It is the No. 1 genetic killer of both adults and children.

``It's important because of my daughter,'' Teresa said. ``I do have a lot of faith that the foundation will come up with drugs and possibly a cure.''

The 4-foot-6-inch, 65-pound Valencia High School freshman, small-framed because of years of taking anti-inflammatory steroids to ease her breathing, is always coughing, regularly has a stuffy nose and performs breathing treatments two to five times a day. Though she may not be to walk the nearly two-hour event, she wanted to bring Great Strides here after reading about other foundations holding walks in Santa Clarita.

``They have the breast cancer walk here and I wanted to do one for cystic fibrosis because they're very successful,'' Kristina said. ``I want to find a cure.''

Both Teresa and her husband, Jim, weren't aware they were each carriers of cystic fibrosis - one in 31 Americans is a symptomless carrier of the defective gene. Their two sons, James, 12, and Kevin, 10, are also carriers. To contract the disease, the child must inherit one defective copy of the gene from each parent.

Teresa has been impressed by the foundation's work because she said they aggressively work on developing new drugs - a necessity because those afflicted become resistant to antibiotics.

The de Brees worked with Erika Weingarten, director of special events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, who said she was impressed with Kristina's drive to bring the walk to Valencia.

``I thought she was a very ambitious little girl,'' Weingarten said. ``I was excited to work with her.''

Kristina hasn't let her disease slow her down. She is an active high school student who takes piano lessons once a week. Like other girls her age, she also enjoys being the center of attention, dashing toward the piano on a recent day to play one of her favorite songs, ``Over the Rainbow.''

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Photo:

Teresa de Bree and her daughter, Kristina, who has cystic fibrosis, will lead a walkathon Sunday to help find a cure.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer