Monday, October 4, 2010

1,000,000 Hits and a Giveaway

WE DID IT!! Ronnie and I said FOREVER ago that we couldn't wait to see CysticLife reach 1,000,000 hits. Why 1,000,000? Because it sounds like a lot, but more so because of what it represents. It means that the thing we spent hours, upon hours, upon hours thinking about, dreaming about, and working on, was actually being USED. (Side note - social networks totally blow if no one uses them. Sites like CysticLife, where they're mainly user-generated content, absolutely TANK if no content is generated). I had many panic attacks picturing this skeleton of a site sitting unused...but that's not what happened at all (and I'm not surprised). The CF community has a way of rallying together, and is incredibly awesome at sharing, helping, discussing, and encouraging one another. We are just SO SO SO thrilled that people are using CysticLife as a place to help and love on each other. But I'm getting side-tracked, so let me cut to the chase.

When we realized that 1,000,000 (like that I write the number instead of just writing 1 million? I'll be honest, it just feels good to see the zeros!) hits was possible, we wanted to be sure to give back to the community a little of what they were giving to us. We wanted to spruce up and add to the site, so we gave it a facelift and added a new homepage. We also, wanted to move our mission offline so we launched the CysticLife Grant Program, where you can apply for an activity, medical, or educational grant. We are SO SO excited by this, and absolutely CANNOT wait to start seeing applications come in, so we can continue giving people the tools they need to be successful in their CF Life.

And here's where the whole point of where I'm going comes in (yeah I know, it took me awhile to get to the punch...that's typically how my stories are, just ask Ronnie). I know a lot of you guys are already members on CysticLife, but if you're not, I wanted to clue you in, incase you don't follow the CysticLife Facebook Fan page (where we'll be making this announcement). As of RIGHT NOW, the first 100 people (LIVING IN THE US) to register on CysticLife.org AND send CysticLife a message on CysticLife.org, will receive a free SideStream Plus nebulizer. Pretty awesome right!?!

So non-CysticLife members, here's what you do:
1. Go to www.cysticlife.org
2. Register (be sure that you receive the validation email, and finish the registration process by following the link in the email...sometimes the email can end up in junkmail, so watch for it)
3. Once you're a member, search for CysticLife.
4. Once on CysticLife's profile, click the little mail icon, and shoot us a message.
5. If you're one of the first 100, we'll send you a message back asking for your address so we can send you the nebulizer cup.
6. BOOM, it's that easy.

I am a HUGE fan of free stuff, so I couldn't help but pass on the good news to those of you in the CF community who follow the blog, but aren't CysticLife.org members yet. Didn't want you to miss out on the opportunity to win a cool new "toy" and a good excuse to get over to CysticLife to see why it got 1,000,000 hits, the new homepage, site design, and CysticLife Grant Program.

**If you are a member already, you won't be eligible for a free SideStream Plus, BUT you can head over to CL, check out the new homepage and site design to let us know what you think, AND be sure to think about how CL can help you be successful through a CysticLife Grant.

**Please note you must live in the US to qualify!