I knew who Linda Bowman (@lscrappybowman) was well before I met her. Her face was canvased on most of my Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) pamphlets and #CFCommunity social media. A cystic fibrosis patient and patient leader, Linda has this natural ability to make you feel like you’re a part of her family. You want to join her latest project or initiative… and she joins EVERYTHING.
- She’s a singer for BreatheBravely and SingSpire.
- She spoke at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference.
- She participated in the CFRI scavenger hunt, cfreshc, great strides…
- She moderates for different CFF Events like ResearchCon.
- She promotes community voice.
- She is a #roseup and #Breathecon ambassador.
- She is a Beam (previously “Pacster”) participant.
- The list goes on…
Most importantly, she’s been an integral part of our promotion team for FALL RISK THE MUSICAL.
Linda was drawn to the performing arts ever since she was a little girl. She wanted to perform on Broadway. Linda watched the FALL RISK staged reading live on YouTube in 2020, left a review, liked, shared, and followed. She signed up for a one-on-one with myself and Ashley Ballou-Bonnema in 2021, and we asked her to make a video for our 2021 documentary. Her answer is always “yes, how can I help?” A marking of a brilliant and inspiring patient leader.
“Bringing awareness to cystic fibrosis is what this show is about, right? But everybody can relate to this in some way. There’s someone in their life, or themselves, who has a struggle – a chronic plight – that they have to deal with. So, this is a very relatable story and it has the real power to move souls.” – Linda, Fall Risk Documentary
Linda is also a participant in one of our newer initiatives – My Annual Tenth Birthday!
Linda was married at the same time the CF gene was discovered approximately 30 years ago. Many patients born and diagnosed around that time were told they would not live to be ten years old. Now, the median age is 50. Our team at Colie Creations thought it was important to bring visibility to these patients and to the advancements made by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This birthday theme also appears throughout FALL RISK.
