Open Channels.(treating cystic fibrosis)

When Chrissy Falletti was born, in 1975, she seemed healthy, but soon her father, a physician in Youngstown, Ohio, and her mother, a nurse, observed that she was losing weight. At six weeks old, Falletti was admitted to Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, in Cleveland. As part of her evaluation, she underwent a sweat test--electrodes were strapped to her forearms, and her perspiration was collected on a thin paper filter. The test showed abnormally elevated amounts of chloride, a component of the salt in sweat, which indicated a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. Falletti's mother quit her job to oversee her care. "No one in my family had cystic fibrosis, but my parents knew ...