Crystal Martinez Inspires with Musical Talent

Midlothian, VA (April 21, 2010) It is 4:45 a.m. on a school day, and the alarm goes off.  15 year old Crystal Martinez gets up and starts taking 28 pills.  The nebulizer and “the vest” come next, between taking a shower, getting ready, and eating breakfast.  She is out the door at 6:20 a.m. to catch the school bus.  She goes to the Nurse’s office during lunch for treatment and requires it immediately when she gets home in the afternoon, and again before bed.  She has Cystic Fibrosis (CF). 

Crystal, an up and coming teen musician from Pocono, PA, will return to perform the National Anthem in front of 5,000 race fans at the FedEx Short Track Showdown to benefit the Denny Hamlin Foundation in Midlothian, VA on April 29th.  She sang America the Beautiful last year.

“I’m honored that Crystal will be back,” said Fed Ex #11 NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Denny Hamlin.  “She has a beautiful voice and is very talented.” 

Diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at the age of 9, everyday life is a challenge. “I have lots of icky, sticky mucus that sticks to my lungs like a spider web,” she said.  “This makes it very hard to breath.”   

Severe lung infections and pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas, and over 3 hours of treatment each day do not get in the way of Crystal’s true passion, music.  "Singing takes me away from all of that.  I can fully be myself when I'm singing, and I can move and inspire my audience through songs," she said.

 I definitely know first-hand how difficult it is to sing,” Hamlin laughed as he recalled filming the recent Coca Cola commercial, Harmony, with other Sprint Cup drivers.  “You saw my attempt at singing, and it wasn’t pretty.  Let’s just say that I’ll stick to driving and leave the singing to Crystal.” 

CF is an inherited, progressive disease that mainly affects the lungs and the digestive system.  The defective gene produces abnormally thick mucus that blocks the airway which causes life threatening lung infections and serious digestive problems.  “Mucus plugs are magnets for bacteria which cause infections, which damage the lungs, resulting in more mucus plugs,” Dr. Joel Schmidt, Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology at Virginia Common Wealth University (VCU), said.  

With 30,000 children and adults in the United States and about 1,000 new cases diagnosed each year, CF is one of the most common life-shortening inherited diseases.  “I know that CF will prevent me from living a normal lifestyle until a cure is found," Crystal said, but she has hope. 

Medical advances greatly increased the life expectancy of CF patients over the past 30 years.  Today the average is 37 years.  10 years ago it was 18, and 30 years ago, it was 14.   “We used to tell parents their child had a few years to live.   Now, we’re telling them to prepare for college and careers,” Dr. Schmidt said.

A healthy child’s lung capacity grows until the age of 18 – 22 when it starts decreasing 1 - 2% every year.  A CF patient used to lose 5%.  Medical breakthroughs reduced that to about 2%.

“This is why we’re racing,” Hamlin said.  “And we’re going to keep at it until we find a cure.” 

Along with singing, Crystal loves to act, dance, model, paint, roller blade, and to spend time with friends.  All of which helps take her mind off of the difficulties that come with CF. “However, singing is my first love,” she said.   She began singing at the age of four and performs a variety of genres, including country, pop, hip-hop, oldies, and holiday tunes

She also sets goals.  Crystal hopes to have an original album with a top hit on the radio and to act on Broadway.  She is thankful for the support her family provides.  She said, “My parents raised me to not worry about all of the struggles in life and to just follow your dreams because you never know what life is going to bring you.”

“We’ve always encouraged Crystal to set goals and follow her dreams,” Tricia Martinez, her mother, said.   “We keep everything as positive as possible and try to help her get the most out of each day.  She doesn’t let anything slow her down.”

Most CF patients require over 3 hours a day of treatment.   “This can hamper a patient’s ability to pursue hobbies and cultivate talents,” Linda Vines, Executive Director of the Virginia Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), said.  They take antibiotics to treat and prevent infections, inhaled medicines to open airways, and enzyme replacement therapy to thin mucus.   “All of which takes time,” Vines added.

There’s also “the Vest.”  Worn like a jacket, this electric, high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest leverages pressure and vibration to dislodge the mucus deposits that clog the lungs.  “It makes it possible to cough up the mucus,” Jim Norton, Diagnostic Respiratory Care Practitioner at VCU Medical Center, said, “and less mucus means fewer infections.”

“Crystal hates the vest,” Tricia said, “she has to use it twice a day for at least 30 minutes each time at a minimum, and they would like her to use it more.” 

Additional CF treatment may include oxygen therapy as lung capacity decreases and lung transplants in the most advanced cases.

Resistance to medications is another complication of CF.  By the time CF children reach 10-13 years old, they have taken so many antibiotics growing up that they become resistant, resulting in the need for intravenous antibiotic therapy.  This often requires hospitalization.   

No stranger to hospitals and intravenous drugs, Crystal recently spent two weeks in the hospital with pancreatitis.  “When I'm in the hospital for these types of things it really does affect my singing because with coughing so much my voice can get all scratched up, and my entire schedule is cut at that point,” she said.   “I'm not able to go out and perform which can also bring my hope down… luckily, all of my doctors, nurses, and child life volunteers keep me going in there, and I'm back to my normal state in no time.”

Life for the Martinez family is extremely busy and complicated.  Crystal’s father, Gabriel, commutes to New York City everyday which is about two hours each way, and Tricia has two part time jobs.  Although difficult to manage, this allowed her to work around Crystal’s schedule.  “When she’s sick, I am able to give her the IV meds at home,” she said.  “CF parents are taught to be able to give the IV to their children.”  

The Martinez family also has an older son in college and a younger one at home.  “It’s a juggling act.  We do what we can to get through the day and help Crystal get what she can out of each one of them,” Tricia said.  

 “I'd like to thank Denny a million times for helping to put the whole benefit race together and for asking me to come back and sing for the second year,” Crystal said.   “It's so great that he can use his fame and exposure to raise money and awareness to help find a cure.”

The race will be held at Southside Speedway in Midlothian, VA.  It will be a full blown Late Model Stock Car race featuring fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup stars Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler Steven Wallace, and Denny’s race day spotter Curtis Markham racing alongside Hamlin for 250 laps. The race will also feature the best of the best from the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and the United Auto Racing Association Series (UARA).

Proceeds from the race will go to the Denny Hamlin Foundation.  Its primary mission is to aid in raising awareness and funding for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) research and treatment and aiding children with other debilitating illnesses.