For years, Emily Schaller's dream has been to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis with a large national audience. As you can see from the photos included, Emily shares a striking resemblance to Ellen DeGeneres and is a huge fan of the talk show host. Emily has maintained her health by becoming incredibly physically fit. Her fitness regime includes running, drumming, and biking. In August, Emily took her Third Annual City to City Ride, 335 miles in four days from Detroit to Chicago on her bicycle. Her plan had been to return from that ride and then one month later begin her trek to Los Angeles. However, Emily's Achilles tendon has been injured and now she is unable to make that ride as she had been planning to do. A lung infection in July, required antibiotics which have the unfortunate side effect of weakening tendons, and thus the Achilles injury, making a 2000-mile bicycle ride impossible.

Fortunately, Emily doesn't recognize the word "impossible" and within minutes of hearing this potentially devastating news, Emily had a new plan..."I'll ride a Vespa instead!" Emily will be riding a very cool Vespa, from Chicago to L.A. which is critical in making her dream come true.

**Update** Emily will be riding her bike 30-40 miles each morning and then finishing up the rest on the Vespa. Physcial thearpy has really been paying off and Em's achilles is on the mend. Emily has received a great deal of press locally and nationally. She has appeared in a Forbes Magazine article, New York Times article, and a recent local article from the Detroit Free Press as well as an announcement of her recent Applebee's "Real Burgers for Real Heros" award

Learn more about Emily and the Rock CF Foundation at www.letsrockcf.org