Countdown - 15 days!I promised a little background in my last post, and it's even more appropriate since quite a few folks have joined since then.
This isn't exactly an FAQ, but let me give you some insight as to why I've chosen the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. This is my charity of choice and the folks that I'm trying to raise money and awareness for. When I decided to change this trip from a pure and simple 'vacation' to a 'cause', it was because of my experience in learning about Crohn's Disease and Colitis.
Once upon a time a few years ago, a friend and co-worker got sick. We didn't know what was wrong with him, and even HE didn't know what was wrong with him (at first). All we knew was that he was out of the office sick a lot (highly unusual for him) and his weight started dropping faster than a prom dress at midnight. For the sake of the conversation, let's call him...Gus.
I don't know how much he weighed previously, but I'll guess at about 180 lbs. In practically the wink of an eye, he lost something like 60 pounds. Maybe not 60, but it had to be at least 40. In about 3 or 4 weeks. We all got scared.
Could it be the 'C' word? We've all had someone we know affected by cancer, so it wouldn't be all that crazy of an assumption. Finally I got up the cajones and asked him.
That's when Gus told me he had been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. I looked at him like a teenager looks at a job application. I was totally confused. I'd never heard of such a thing and didn't know what that meant. He was gentle, but explained that it had to do with his digestive system and that he wasn't able to retain any nutrients from the food he ate (that's putting it gently, right?)
I didn't know anyone else who had such a disease so I kinda figured this was something rare. Little did I know at the time how widespread it is. So I kind of chalked up this whole illness as a special 'one-off' and tried to forget about it.
After all, by now Gus had been to several specialists and was getting things under control. He was still rail-thin, but at least he had stopped losing more weight.
And the most glaringly obvious thing? He never once griped or moaned about it. Still to this day, you wouldn't have the slightest clue he has any problems whatsoever.
And yet, Crohn's Disease has certainly taken over his life. If affects and restricts what he can eat, when he can eat, how much he can eat. It determines what he does, when he does it, and how much he can do. His life revolves around this terrible disease.
But you'd never know it.
Enter another co-worker about 18 months ago. Let's call her "Mara". I learned pretty early on that she suffered from Colitis. Bang. Once again I had that 'deer in the headlights' look. What the heck was that? When she mentioned that it was similar to Crohn's Disease, I knew this wasn't as isolated a group of diseases as I thought. In fact, because of Mara, I started to pay more attention to what this terrible medical condition was all about. I wanted to learn more. She was happy to share once she realized my desire to learn wasn't some sick fascination, but a true concern for her well-being.
Mara's story was quite different. She had been diagnosed at about 21 years old. She's had over thirty operations since her diagnosis. She had her colon removed. She had huge portions of her intestines removed. She's had multiple infections and complications, and all sorts of medicine-related complications. Can you imagine more than 30 operations?
Oh, yeah. She's all of 27 now. That's just 6 years since being diagnosed. Let that sink in a minute. That's an average of 5 operations per year, or about one every other month.
She knows about 80% of all the gastroenterologists in this area. Most from having consulted each one at some point or another.
Again, this young woman is the picture of positive outlooks. Never a day goes by where she complains about her disease or it's affects. On some days you can tell that she's just having a rough day, but when you ask if she's feeling alright she'll respond, "Not so good today, but I'll get through this. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic!"
Mara has never shared numbers (that's not her way), but you can imagine that the medical costs for her since being diagnosed make a Harvard tuition expense look like pocket change.
When you look up the words 'courageous' or 'brave' in the dictionary, these two ought to have their photos included.
It's because of the determination each of these two share about dealing with this very personal, very destructive group of diseases that I chose to do something to help. If I could muster up even half of the positive spirit that they possess and share with the world, you'd think I was hopped up on happy pills.
Surely, Crohn's and/or Colitis have taken over and control their daily lives. There is no escaping the fact that their most minute daily routines revolve around how to deal with the flare-ups and complications. But what is most endearing to me is that they refuse to let these diseases affect their outlook on life. They will not be beaten by these afflictions. Instead, they will rise above them and make the very best of every situation.
Many would look at their situation and say, "poor me, look at all the things I can no longer do." They instead look at their own situations and say "lucky me, I can still enjoy so very many things in life, even with this challenge ahead of me."
Wouldn't you do everything you could to help these two find more comfort and potentially a solution?
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