People Making A Difference: SoCal Mom Carries On Daughter's Legacy Of Helping Others Battle Cystic Fibrosis

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — Claire Wineland, an activist and author, was born in 1997 in Austin, Texas.

"So I'm dying," Claire said while staring straight into the camera in a video, "faster than everyone else."

In the video, she's sitting in her San Diego bedroom, drinking a cup of tea and laughing.

"Claire had a real thing about her," Melissa Yeager, her mom, said.

Claire was diagnosed at birth with cystic fibrosis.

"It causes an overload of mucous in all of my organs and they pretty much shut down over time," she said in the video.

But Claire never let her chronic illness get the best of her.

She strictly followed the advice of her doctors, made the most out of living part-time in hospitals and found the strength to speak to audiences globally about living a full life with a terminal illness.

"I'm hoping we get past 21," she said in a speech. "I just want to go clubbing once, that's it! I don't ask for much in life."

But by the time she gave that speech, Claire had already come close to death.

At the age of 13, her lungs failed and she was placed in a medically-induced coma — but she survived, against the odds.

"She immediately came out being driven to help others, make a difference," Yeager said. "She said, 'We're starting a foundation.'"

Claire wanted her foundation to ease the financial burdens of families with children living with cystic fibrosis.

"Claire's Place Foundation steps in to cover their bills while they're in the hospital," Yeager said. "We pay their mortgage or their rent or their car payment or their insurance bills so that they can be relieved of that financial stress and can focus on their child which is what's most important."

Karen Alkurd's 19-year-old daughter, Mariam, has been living life with cystic fibrosis, and Claire's foundation has helped cover the cost of her medically-related out-of-state travel.

"Claire's Place was actually able to help pay our rent," Alkurd said.

But Claire's reach goes far beyond the financial support her foundation is about to offer. Her joy for life has been a constant motivator, not just for her mom, but for children at Miller's Children's and Women's Hospital in Long Beach where Claire's spirit thrived from the age of 4 until her last breath in 2018 at the age of 21.

"Being here today has been full of emotion," Yeager said. "There's a lot of memories — wonderful and devastating."

Though her daughter is gone, Yeager keeps her child's spirit alive building Claire's Place playrooms in hospitals around the country — including a teen lounge at Miller's.

"And that to me is her living on in this world," Yeager said. "And it's an honor for me to get to this for her and carry this message along. It's become my passion now, too."