Raffle of Dad’s Prized Van Winkle Bourbons to Support CF Foundation

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by Vanda Pinto, PhD |

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Nathan Perdue, the father of a 2-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis (CF), in collaboration with the Kentucky Derby Museum, is raffling off his limited-edition collection of bourbons to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) and its efforts to cure this disease within his son’s lifetime.

The collection includes three bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, one Van Winkle Special Reserve, and one Old Rip Van Winkle, with a total estimated retail value of $18,250, according to a press release.

The raffle’s winner will also enjoy a private VIP tour of Churchill Downs (for the winner and up to three other guests) as part of a museum “prize package,” and a complimentary one-night stay at Hotel Distil in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.

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Tickets cost $100 each, and are available through Sept. 23; raffle entry is included on the release.

A total of 4,000 tickets will be sold, but no other limit is placed on how many tickets an individual may purchase. Adults, age 21 or older, can enter the raffle.

Proceeds will benefit the CFF, a nonprofit whose mission is to find a cure, fund disease research and drug development, and improve patients’ quality of life. A small portion will also go to support the education department at the Kentucky Derby Museum, which is hosting the raffle.

The winning ticket will be drawn on Sept. 24, and people can follow the drawing live on the museum’s Facebook page. The winner, due to state of Kentucky law, is required to pick up the bourbon collection in person at the Kentucky Derby Museum.

Wyatt Perdue of Indiana was diagnosed with CF when he was 10 days old, and his parents say he loves music, dancing, and playing with his older brother. But like many with CF, his daily routine consists of rounds of treatments to loosen the thick, sticky mucus clogging his lungs.

With better treatment and advances in care, life expectancy has increased considerably for people with CF, with a reported rise of more than 700% over the last 60 years. Based on 2019 data from the CFF Patient Registry, those born between 2015 and 2019 have an average life expectancy of 46 years, and 48 years for people born in 2019 or later.

Nathan Perdue, a bourbon collector and connoisseur, hopes that raffling off his collection will bring more awareness and support for CF, with an ultimate goal of a cure. The Perdues have no known family history of this disease, and his parents were unaware they were asymptomatic carriers of a mutated CFTR gene — the root cause of CF.