Sunday June 7th, 2015 was the 20th Annual GUTSY Walk for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, and I had the pleasure of doing the walk again this year.
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Last year, the walk was at Heydenshore Kiwanis Park (which is a beautiful place), but this year we had it Lakeview Park.
The weather was cool and windy, but not enough to spoil the walk or the gorgeous view of Lake Ontario! I’m quite fortunate that my joint pains haven’t been acting up, so the walk was pretty effortless.
I decided to go to the walk alone, but I was able to meet several friends while I was there. Among those friends, was fellow ostomate, Jen, from Crohnic Crohn’s. Jen was there with a young man, Jacob (twitter @KidWithCrohns), and his mother.
Jacob’s mum told me a bit about her son, and the battle he’s been fighting because of Crohn’s Disease. His story is moving, and his drive to help other’s is truly inspiring. It breaks my heart to see anyone suffering with IBD, but it’s even harder so to see kids have their childhood disrupted by it.
Durham Region had a goal of $78,000, and so far, we’ve raided over $58,000. I set a goal of $1500 this year, but I haven’t reached that goal yet – we do have until July 5th to hit our target, and each dollar raised offers a new opportunity for research.
My ostomy gave me no trouble, and it rarely gets in the way of walks, but I also know to load up on fluids and electrolytes before doing anything like this. While this walk was easy for me (now), I can’t help but think of how many people are too sick to walk because of IBD; knowing how bad it can get, my thoughts were definitely with them today.
I hope that my luck persists for another year, and that perhaps one day we’ll be walking to celebrate a cure we’ve found for this disease.
For more information about the GUTSY Walk, please visit: www.gutsywalk.ca
Question: Did you do the GUTSY Walk this year? Where was it held at?
Aww Thanks for the kind words Eric, it was our pleasure meeting you! As we talked about, The Gutsy Walk means everything to us. Jacob was diagnosed at 8 after a sudden onset of symptoms and within 6 months of diagnosis had already gone through most of the treatments on the market and lost his bowel.
But more than his bowel, he’s lost his social circle. Jacob started at a brand new school for grade 4, the same time that he had just gotten diagnosed. He’s missed the majority of grades 4-6, this year only being to school maybe 10-15 times (and that’s being generous). He can no longer physically do most of the activities at his beloved Scouts, as there is no way he can go backpack hiking when he can’t even walk through a store. He’s been sick for his last 3 birthdays and unable to have parties with other kids. We haven’t had a summer vacation in 3 summers because he’s always been an inpatient. Hopefully that will change this summer. He’s lost so much of his childhood, and yet still wants to make a huge impact for other kids.
The GI doctors rarely see a child with as complicated Crohn’s as Jacob lives with. He is steroid dependent, having already suffered from Cushings induced by steroids, and he doesn’t respond to the typical anti-TNF medications. He doesn’t react well to sulfasalazine and her cousins, can’t do Imuran, doesn’t respond to Mesalamine at all, and methotrexate makes him violently ill. We’ve now started on Stelara with our fingers crossed that Jacob responds to this one. The Gutsy Walk means that there is hope for Jacob’s future. That perhaps there might one day be a successful treatment for him, or even better, a cure for everyone.
Thanks again for your kind words :)
I’m looking forward to meeting you two again soon! I hope that Jacob has a wonderful summer!