{"id":16785,"date":"2020-09-17T00:22:36","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T03:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=16785"},"modified":"2020-09-17T00:22:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T03:22:36","slug":"inspiring-young-fall-river-boy-honoured-with-national-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=16785","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring young Fall River boy honoured with national award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;79&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>ADVERTISEMENT<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"VIDEO AD: Payzant&#039;s Samsung Sept 2020\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BgwfX7scXFg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FALL RIVER:<\/strong> A young Fall River boy who is an inspiration to many has been recognized with a national award from Cystic Fibrosis Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blake Brien had a visitor come to his families St. Andrews Village home on Sept. 14, bringing the Youth Impact Award with her. The Youth Impact Award is given to a young individual 19-years-old and under who is a source of inspiration to others and has shown leadership within the CF community on a continuous basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blake, a student at Ash Lee Jefferson Elementary School, fits that bill perfectly. He is among 4,300 people in Canada who has CF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt makes me feel happy to get the award,\u201d said Blake. \u201cWe do all kinds of stuff from 50\/50 tickets, walks as \u2018Blake\u2019s Believers\u2019 wearing my special t-shirt that my brother James made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;31&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/119253500_10164022582510234_3630768659736672723_o-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16787\" width=\"755\" height=\"1006\"\/><figcaption>Blake Brien of Fall River. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>He does more than two hours a day of treatments for his CF\u201445 minutes before school; 45 minutes at school; then 45 minutes before bed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blake takes six pills every time he eats plus many other pills at other times of the day to help control his CF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a release, Blake\u2019s involvement with CF was explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBlake is an amazing young boy who was diagnosed with CF at a very young age, but has not let that stop him,\u201d said the post. \u201cHe has been involved in Walks for as long as we can remember but his involvement goes way beyond that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blake has been part of national ad campaigns for CF Canada, sold so many raffle tickets and built a community of support around the disease and hope for a cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMost recently, his video regarding the urgency of approval for Trikafta received over 17,000 views and 700 shares, so it\u2019s clear he constantly inspires people with his bravery and courage facing the disease at such a young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThank you Blake for showing everyone anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;81&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate group=&#8221;7&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blake knows how CF makes him different from others, like his brothers James and Max.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have to do things different, like if others have gone outside at night or in the morning I can\u2019t go out,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t like that because I have to do my mask stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mom Erin made a post on her Facebook about Blake being recognized with the Youth Impact Award. One by one the positive comments came in. They made Blake smile ear-to-ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople were proud of me telling me congratulations, that it was amazing, that is was awesome,\u201d said Blake, with the help of mom. \u201cA lot of people said I was an inspiration to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Blake mostly certainly is one inspiring young boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/EiBmw3_X0AIvYKp-e1600312912161.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16822\" width=\"629\" height=\"839\"\/><figcaption>The Brien Boys. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;25&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate group=&#8221;7&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;34&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"VIDEO AD   Wamback 1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cnpIleDdhc0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ADVERTISEMENT FALL RIVER: A young Fall River boy who is an inspiration to many has been recognized with a national award from Cystic Fibrosis Canada. Blake Brien had a visitor come to his families St. Andrews Village home on Sept. 14, bringing the Youth Impact Award with her. The Youth Impact Award is given to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,957],"tags":[140,1437,1438,2,1439],"class_list":["post-16785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-ash-lee-jefferson-school","tag-blake-brien","tag-cystic-fibrosis","tag-fall-river","tag-inspiring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}