• Our Mission

    Our Mission

    Our mission at PCD Smiles is to bring smiles to hospitalized primary ciliary dyskinesia, no mater their age; through the gift of a cheer package. Currently serving only The United States and Canada.
  • Request Cheer Package

    Request Cheer Package

    Know of a hospitalized primary ciliary dyskinesia patient? Please visit our “Request a Cheer Package” link and fill out our secured form to submit them for a cheer package today!
  • Donations

    Donations

    Our cheer package program runs on donations. To see how you can help PCD Smiles, visit our donations section today!
  • The PCD Artist Project is a collaborative effort by artist to raise awareness for PCD & support the PCD Smiles cheer package program. Visit our exhibits today!
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  • just say NO, Buffets & Food Boards; a patient’s perspective

    just say NO, Buffets & Food Boards; a patient’s perspective

    A patient’s perspective from our Founder: Well you all know me and know I like to talk about the little know areas of PCD life, like this new spin on buffet type meals; food boards. For most people...
  • Flying with PCD

    Flying with PCD

    A few years during a family medical crisis involving my father I went a jumped on the first plane out of Minniapolis bound for my home state of Ohio. I wasn’t actively sick with and infection, but...
  • Caregiving

    Caregiving

    There are many layers to caregiving when it involves a person who has primary ciliary dyskinesia. These layers peel back and change on the daily sometimes. It is definitely a strange onion to peel...
  • Nothing is Sacred when you have PCD

    Nothing is Sacred when you have PCD

    There are a lots of things that I’ve had to get used to as I grew up doing life with PCD. One of those things was learning that unlike most others I had no privacy. I mean absolutely none...

I’m often get asked if this PCD cough will go away, or what’s the best things to use to get my PCDer’s cough to quite and or go away. I’m afraid that the answer isn’t simple by any regards. In PCD we lack a working mucociliary escalator. The cilia part of that escalator is broken, so mucus doesn’t naturally clear on its own. We with PCD have to manually move that mucus out of our airways. And we primarily do that by utilizing cough clearance. So we need to cough to keep our airways clear, so the non moving mucus doesn’t trap gas behind that stuck mucus. Air trapping is a big thing in PCD, and it often leaves the PCD patient with breathlessness. Breathlessness that can sometimes be debilitating. Cough suppression in PCD isn’t widely recommended by the PCD experts due to our non working mucociliary escalator. If a provider is asking you to stifle or suppress your cough clearance, be sure that you get a good explanation and understand that explanation before agreeing to hinder cough clearance in your PCD loved one. We with PCD need to cough it up and out, every single day, every single time.

Be sure to join us next week for another Topic Thursday.

Join our Facebook group Turtle Talk Café today, click here.

We have several ways that you can donate to PCD Smiles;

- Visit Smile E. Turtle's Amazon Wishlist

- For more information on how you can donate, please visit our "Donation" page to check out our "Do & Don't policies.

- Or sponsor a PCD Smiles cheer package today!

- To shop for your “Official” turtle care ribbon gear today, visit PCD Style or Smile E. Cove

Thank you for your consideration!

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Looking 4 Smiles!

Looking 4 Smiles!

PCD patients spend a lot of time doing therapies to help clear their lungs. Having things to...
Random Fact Friday 2024.5

Random Fact Friday 2024.5

“PCD is a genetically heterogeneous disorder affecting motile cilia which are made up of...
Random Fact Friday 2023.363

Random Fact Friday 2023.363

Apparent in most young children with PCD, chronic/recurrent ear infection becomes less apparent by...