In honor of World Cystic Fibrosis Day, September 8th, RESOLVE\u2019s CEO, Danielle Melfi sat down with Pete Proimos, founder of the Filotimo Foundation<\/a>, to discuss the intersection of chronic illness, infertility, and advocacy. RESOLVE and the Filotimo Foundation want people living with cystic fibrosis (CF) who want to build a family to know they are not alone in the fight for support and access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI live with cystic fibrosis<\/a> (CF), and I\u2019ve seen firsthand how hard it is to live with a chronic disease\u2014especially when it comes to things like fertility or financial hardship that aren\u2019t always covered by insurance. I wanted to create a nurturing environment where people with CF could thrive, not just survive.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a Greek word that means helping someone without expecting anything in return. It\u2019s like a hug you didn\u2019t ask for but really needed. That\u2019s what we try to offer\u2014support that\u2019s deeply human and unconditional.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor men with CF, 98% have an underdeveloped vas deferens<\/a>, meaning sperm retrieval is necessary to have children, but the medical procedures are often not covered by insurance. We partner with clinics like Atlantic Reproductive Medicine and Ivy Fertility to provide financial and emotional support for families navigating this journey.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo build a national network of fertility clinics that understand cystic fibrosis and other chronic diseases. We want to support anyone who needs help building a family\u2014whether they\u2019re dealing with CF, cancer, or another condition. And we want to do it with compassion and efficiency.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRESOLVE is the national patient advocacy organization for people facing infertility and those who face barriers to building a family. We provide support groups<\/a>, educational resources<\/a>, and advocate<\/a> for better access to care at both the state and federal levels. Our goal is to ensure everyone who wants to build a family can do so.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s everything. Patients lead our support groups, shape our educational materials, and are the heart of our advocacy. Last year, 800 patients joined us for Advocacy Day<\/a> to share their stories with lawmakers. Their voices drive change.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This conversation was more than a meeting\u2014it was a moment of connection between two organizations rowing in the same direction. As Pete said, \u201cWe\u2019re in the boat together<\/em>.\u201d And as Danielle reminded us, \u201cThe more voices we have, the louder we are.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n RESOLVE knows first-hand the barriers too many people face when it comes to building a family. That\u2019s why we partner with organizations like Filotimo Foundation to share information about their family building grants and financial help. To learn more visit our grants and scholarship resource page<\/a> or go directly to Filotimo Foundations\u2019 website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World Cystic Fibrosis Day In honor of World Cystic Fibrosis Day, September 8th, RESOLVE\u2019s CEO, Danielle Melfi sat down with Pete Proimos, founder of the Filotimo Foundation, to discuss the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":51323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51316"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51329,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51316\/revisions\/51329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resolve.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pete, tell us about the Filotimo Foundation. Why did you start it?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
What does \u201cFilotimo\u201d mean?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How does cystic fibrosis affect fertility, and how is Filotimo addressing that?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s the big vision for Filotimo?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Danielle, what is RESOLVE and how do you support people building families?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How important is the patient voice in your work?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Final Thoughts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n