Book written through the eyes of Bath first-grader with CF

BATH TOWNSHIP — Sitting next to author Beth Huffman, 7-year-old Andrea Ramsey wore pink, just as she did when the two first met and Huffman began writing a book about the Bath first-grader.

“I said, ‘I love pink” that day and she said, ‘I know, it is the most awesome color,” Huffman said of the day she quickly chose the title “Awesome Andrea,” for the book written through the eyes of the girl living with cystic fibrosis.

“Within 10 minutes of being with her I knew she was an awesome child,” Huffman added. “She, like most children and adults with CF, they live their lives like they do not have the disease. Otherwise it would dictate their lives. They don't give up.”

Huffman, a retired Columbus Grove teacher, visited Andrea and her classmates Thursday, showing them the book and talking to them about Andrea's disease and about being nice to others. She will soon take her message on the road to middle schools.

“You have a hero in your class,” she told pupils, as Andrea held a copy of the book and occasionally filled in the blanks as Huffman spoke. She showed how her breathing vest makes her shake and admitted that “it makes me angry at times that I have to have” CF.

Andrea was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 19 months. She takes 18 pills a day, including before she eats, and does a breathing machine at 5 a.m. each day. Other than that, she loves horses and is in dance class, just like other girls her age.

“Basically she is like every other kid, except for those few little things,” said her mom, Cris Ramsey, who says her daughter loves to talk and speak her mind. “She has a certain fight, but she is going to need that fight later on.”

Through the book, Andrea talks about her treatments, visits to doctors and hope for a cure. The Federal Drug Administration just this week approved a new drug to correct the cause of cystic fibrosis. That along with another one in the works could help Andrea. Doctors believe there will be a cure in her lifetime, Ramsey said.

Huffman, who retired from teaching in 1993, wrote her first book, “Run, Amy, Run!” in memory of a former student, Amy Greer, who died of cystic fibrosis in 2009. The money raised went to help Greer's daughter's education and to cystic fibrosis research.

Her publisher wanted another book and soon after she read about Andrea in a story in The Lima News. The story was about an upcoming Great Strides Walk, which Ramsey started to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in 2007.

“It was just meant to be,” Huffman said.

Ramsey and her husband, Steve, were quick to say yes.

“There have been so many progressions in the treatment and with research, I just wanted to bring more money to it, and more awareness to it,” she said.

The book is available for $10 and can be ordered at http://stanleypublishing.com. Proceeds will go toward a college fund for Andrea and then to research.

For information about Huffman's books and speaking tour, go to http://danceintherain.me or write to bethhm@roadrunner.com.

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