11-year-old battling cystic fibrosis wants cards for her birthday

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina -- All 11-year-old Courtney Carroll wants for her 12th birthday is birthday cards.

Carroll is battling cystic fibrosis. She'll be spending her birthday, which is this weekend, at UNC Children's Hospital.

Cystic fibrosis attacks the digestive system and lungs, and it can be terminal. Breathing treatments are nothing new for Courtney who is in the hospital fighting a lung infection.

"It's hard because you know as soon as you get out, you know a few months or a few weeks later you're going right back in," she said.

"It's like a punch in the gut and it's hard to live with it every day," her mother, Niki Carroll said.

Her birthday is on Saturday and there's only one thing she wants - birthday cards from everyone.

Her mom put the call out on Facebook, and dozens have poured in.

There are a couple of VIPs Courtney would like to hear from for her birthday, like YouTuber Jake Paul, the Tar Heel basketball team and NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth.

"I want to meet you," Courtney exclaimed for Jake Paul.

You can send Courtney a card at the UNC Children's Hospital.

Just address it to:

Courtney Carroll

101 Manning Drive

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Room 6C24

If you'd like to do something more, she'd like you to make a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in her honor.

"It really makes you realize how great of a world we do live in," Niki said. "How total strangers will stop what they're doing and send her a card."

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