Katie Fleming takes off a clear breathing tube and asks her aunt, Marylou Ritter, "do I look sick?"

Ritter answers, "No, you look beautiful."

Sitting in the kitchen of the upstairs apartment she shares with her mom Cathy in downtown Danville, 20-year-old Fleming looks like any other young woman her age, but for the constant hum of oxygen pressure going in and out of a back room from a clear tube that runs down the hallway. An empty IV is taped to her arm for a stream of antibiotics she'll have later in the day to combat the infection in her lungs.

Katie was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis— an inherited disease that causes the body to produce sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and inhibits the breakdown and absorption of food— at age one,  just four months after her father died in a car accident.

Katie and her mom lived in Florida until she was six. Then they moved away from the humidity and air conditioning that brought on constant colds and trips to the hospital, to live with Ritter, Cathy's sister, in San Ramon. Katie and her mom later moved to Danville.

Up until her junior year at San Ramon Valley High in 2006, Katie's treatments included breathing treatments such as using nebulizers and "back taps" to help move the mucus out of her lungs.

In 2007, breathing became more difficult and she started to need oxygen at night, and later, all the time. Ritter would bring Katie fresh oxygen tanks at school during lunch, carried around in a small black backpack. Katie continued to work at Primo's as a waitress, taking hits of oxygen during her breaks.

In August 2007, Katie's doctor said she might need a double lung transplant.

After a hospitalization this April, where she was in the ICU for three weeks, Katie has been moved up to the top of the lung transplant list at Stanford University Medical Center.

She can't travel more than two hours away from Stanford, because the call that lungs are available can now come at any time. And when that call comes, "you just drop everything and go," said Ritter.

"It gets boring," said Fleming of the constant waiting. "TV and Facebook are only entertaining for so long."

Katie is among nine lung transplant candidates at Stanford University Medical Center, 168 in California and 1,851 nationwide, and among 233 people nationwide awaiting a lung transplant due to cystic fibrosis, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

"We're just praying that it happens soon," said Ritter. She added that the lung transplant "won't cure CF, but at least Katie will be able to breathe."

The treatments to help Katie breathe have increased to five a day, totalling almost five hours, including a vibrating vest that works to move the mucus from her lungs, laying upside-down and using nebulizers.

In the meantime, family and friends are organizing a "Walk for Kaitlin" on May 23 and a golf tournament at the Blackhawk Country Club on August 17, to raise $40,000 for transplant expenses not covered by insurance, such as a temporary move near Stanford during the transplant procedure, and other expenses after the procedure.

Los Cerros Middle School, where Cathy works, has "Coins for Kaitlin" drives, as do several local businesses. The school also sold white bracelets to raise money.

So far, they have raised more than $13,000.

Despite dealing with the day to day struggle to breathe and constant medical treatments, Katie is upbeat and excited to receive new lungs.

"It sucks and I wish I didn't have to do it, but I'm trying to stay positive about it," she said."I don't want people to think, poor me. I'm happy."

The Walk for Kaitlin is Sunday, May 23 at 11 a.m. at Sycamore Clubhouse, 635 Old Orchard Drive in Danville. Online registration is $25, day-of registration is $35. You may also register in person at Primo's on Hartz Avenue. Check back for more details about the golf tournament.

You may find "Coins for Kaitlin" boxes at the following locations:

• Los Cerros Middle School
• Iron Horse Home Furnishings
• Uptown Cafe
• Jerol Beauty Salon
• ABK - America's Best Karate
  
• Bagel Box
• The Thrift Station
• Sparkalizing Cleaners
• Tropical Solution
• Danville Old Town Bakery
• Twenty-one Tango
• GNB Supplies
• Danville Ink
• The Fringe Hair Salon and Spa
  

To learn more about organ donation, click here.