Honorees

"I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in the fall of 2009, but it was very difficult to diagnose me. I just celebrated my 6th birthday, but I started having symptoms at the age of 3. My symptoms were random fevers, stomach aches, lack of growth, and joint pain that effected my ability to run. I was seen by several different departments at Children's Hospital Boston in hopes of finding out what was causing my symptoms. I had my second endoscopy and colonoscopy and finally, the answer was clear; I have Crohn's disease. Since the diagnosis my doctor, Dr. Walker, has been working on finding the right maintenance medication for me. I am currently on Remicade.

Unfortunately, since my diagnosis I have been hospitalized multiple times (totaling 126 days) due to this horrible disease and was tube fed for 6 weeks in the fall of 2010.   After this, and multiple medications, I had major surgery which removed 2 feet of my small intestine. Later that winter, I was re-admitted to the hospital for repeat surgery and had to stay there for 59 days because of many complications

BUT I am hopeful that soon my disease will be under control. Even though I have been through a lot, I am still like any other 6 year old. My interests include studying dinosaurs and playing baseball. Please support CCFA and Team Challenge so we can fund research, and ultimately find a cure for Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis!"

 

"My name is Gwendolyn and I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in the fall of 2009. My parents and the pediatrician were confused about the symptoms I was having before we met the G.I. team at Children’s Hospital who diagnosed me. Once we found out the cause, I began taking a maintenance medicine 3 times a day that kept my disease at bay. After about a year I had another flare up, this time slightly more severe than the first. We tried several treatments but nothing seemed to stop the flare up until we used steroids. The steroids stopped this flare up and we continued with the same maintenance medicine at a higher dosage. 

In August 2011, I had the worst flare up yet. I had severe symptoms for several weeks and it became impossible, to the point of dehydration, to manage the disease at home. I checked into Children’s Hospital on Friday, August 26^th and spent 13 days in the hospital until the doctors found the right medicine to control my flare up. This flare up caused me to lose 20% on my body weight.

While I’m better now and the doctors are trying a new maintenance medicine, I hope that sometime we can find a cure so that no one will have to experience what I went through again. Thanks for all your support!"

If you want to send Timmy or Adam your well wishes, please email them to arosenfeld@ccfa.org