FULTON, Mo. -- The recent birthday party of sisters Natalie and Layla Underwood, 8, and their friend Madison Bright, 7, had typical features seen at a birthday party - a bounce house, trampoline and family and friends gathered in celebration.
It was missing gifts - but for a reason.
The McIntire Elementary second graders requested those invited to their birthday party pass on giving a gift and instead donate to a cause - Lizzy's Lifesavers, a local Cystic Fibrosis (CF) organization. Megan Metz, a McIntire teacher, established the organization when her daughter, Lizzy, was three months old. Doctors diagnosed Lizzy with CF when she was 2 weeks old.
Kristina Bright, Madison's mother, grew up in Fulton with Lizzy's dad, David Metz, and when Lizzy was diagnosed, the news was difficult to take. She has a daughter who is only a month younger than Lizzy.
"It can be anybody, you just never know. It hit home. It hit me pretty hard," Kristina Bright said.
In preparation for the party, she asked her daughter if the girls wanted to do something special in lieu of gifts. Little did she know, the girls had already devised their plan at school.
Megan Metz taught Natalie last year in first grade, and she saw Layla and Madison daily at McIntire. Through their interactions with Megan and Lizzy, they girls have come to understand how the condition has affected the life of the one-and-a-half year old and her family.
"(I know) that it can get really bad and it's hard for the babies to breathe," Natalie Underwood said.
Every morning Lizzy must undergo at least 30 minutes of therapy. She wears a percussion vest to loosen the mucus in her lungs and inhales three different medications. This process is repeated at night, but with an additional medication. With every meal or snack, Lizzy takes pills - between 12 and 20 daily. She takes digestive enzymes due to pancreatic insufficiency, and Miralax helps her digestive system stay regular.
A simple sniffle to most means extra care for Lizzy.
"It's not even just a cold with Lizzy or others with CF," Megan Metz said.
A cold ups Lizzy's treatments to four times a day, and she must avoid germ-ridden places like indoor pools and Chuck-E-Cheese. This means, though, she spends a lot of time outdoors in open-air environments, her mother said.
Natalie, Layla and Madison agree that Lizzy is a fighter.
"She's so cute and every time I see her she's always smiling at me," Madison said.
The charitable trio said the importance of their efforts was simple - to find a cure and help Lizzy and others affected by CF.
"It's important to see if we can find a cure so they won't have to go through all this money, so they can save money and do stuff for their children," Madison said.
In total, the party brought in $440 in donations to Lizzy's Lifesavers.
"We were really happy," Layla said, adding that the girls talked about it for an entire morning.
Kristina Bright had counted the money the morning the girls presented the donation to Megan Metz.
"I was in shock," Madison said. "I just couldn't believe we raised that much."
That $440 will go toward the organization's fundraising goal of about $30,000. The annual CF Great Strides Walk takes place in April and the fundraising cycle starts over then. Megan Metz said Lizzy's Lifesavers raised more than $50,000 in the 2013-2014 cycle.
"It wouldn't be possibe to reach those goals without that support (from the community)," Megan Metz said, adding that efforts like those made by Natalie, Layla and Madison make a cure possible.
During a school assembly, Natalie, Layla and Madison handed the $440 to Megan Metz, who started to cry. Tears rushed down the faces of other McIntire teachers too.
"I was just shocked. I was so surprised and it really just melted my heart," Megan Metz said.
The girls hope their actions will have a domino effect with other kids, prompting them to forgo gifts for donations to Lizzy's Lifesavers or another cause.
"You should, for your birthday, if you have a birthday coming up, you shouldn't ask for presents, just ask for money for people that have sickness ... You need to raise money for them so they can find out a cure," Madison said.
izzy's Lifesavers will hold a bake sale at the Rock Garden Antique Barn's fall festival, 4382 Route F in Fulton, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday. All proceeds go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. For more information, go to Lizzy's Lifesavers on Facebook. For more on CF, go to cff.org.