For those who don't know how Crohn's has affected my life and why I started running, I would like to share my life experiences:
13.1 miles...15 days - what do they have in common? No, it does not take me 15 days to run 13.1 miles. At age 7, after being sick for nearly two months (and missing a month and half of second grade), I was unable to walk, and my parents carried me into the Cleveland Clinic. Not knowing what was wrong, I went through 8 days of tests in the hospital - but still no diagnosis and I was only getting sicker. Following countless tests and blood work, a colonoscopy determined my fate. I was told I had Crohn's. I never fully grasped how sick I was until the diagnosis came and I could see the relief on my parents’ faces. As a 7 year old, I had no idea how this disease would impact my life. I just remember being put on medication and feeling 100 times better. I thought that would do the trick, and that I would be fine. When I left the hospital after 15 days, the doctors told my family there would a cure for Crohn's disease in my lifetime.
Crohn's disease had an impact on almost every aspect of my life. I struggled in school because of a learning disability related to having an illness. My father had to drive up to Canada one summer to pick me up early from sleepover camp due to a flare-up. Socially, it was hard for me to explain to my friends in middle school why my body was as round as a balloon (thanks to the steroids).
No matter how sick I was feeling, my parents were always there by my side. When I left for college, I still didn't fully understand the disease and the affect it could have on my body until the end of my first semester of freshman year. I wore my body down so much that I had to go home before taking finals. The doctors loaded me up on medication that made me feel even worse.
I returned to school the following semester, determined to take better care of myself. Two summers later I returned home to visit my doctor. He told me my blood work was still indicating active disease and I had to choose between a new drug, fully of uncertainty or surgery. Surgery soon became my only option. I had six inches of my intestine removed and the recovery was painful. I remember thinking I would never get out of bed again.
A month later, I was fully recovered and ready to head back for my junior year of college. Later that year, I was hospitalized again. I was scared that the surgery hadn't worked. I did not want to go back on steroids. Thankfully, this time an antibiotic did the trick.
I have shared all the scary and horrifying moments that this disease has brought to my life. However, most days I'm a normal 28 (almost 29) year marketing professional and wife, who loves to shop, ski, run, and cheer for the Cleveland Indians & Green Bay Packers. Daily medication keeps my disease under control almost 85% of the time, along with a constantly changing diet.
Following college, I began running. I was not much of an athlete as a child, but loved sports. While preparing to run the National Half Marathon in 2007, I was hospitalized with a bowel obstruction preventing me from continuing my training that year. The following year, feeling 100%, I was able to re-train for the 13.1 mile race and cross the finish line!
I have no idea how long I will be healthy before the next flare-up. But, I make sure to take full advantage of everyday that I am not on steroids, am not in the hospital, or don’t have tremendous stomach pain. My friends and I even put a positive spin on going to the bathroom, referring to it as "winning the game."
Running has become my escape from Crohn's. I feel like a normal, healthy person when I cross the finish line at a race and feel like I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. In July 2009, I ran with CCFA's Team Challenge, completing my third or four half marathons.
Sitting at the Inspirational Pasta Party the night before the race, surrounded by 550 other runners impacted by these diseases, I felt even more confident that there will be a cure in my lifetime. Running 13.1 miles is nothing like spending 15 days in a hospital or having surgery. By running we are getting us one step closer to that cure.
Together we can cross that finish line and ensuring that one day soon there will be a cure for Crohn’s.
Thanks for your support!
