Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Inc.

This fall I'm running the 2021 Philadelphia Marathon to promote and raise money for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Inc., an organization that means a lot to me. Linda Kriger, my mother (pictured above), suffered from ulcerative colitis for many years before undergoing surgery to remove her colon. To shed light on the disease and help others suffering from similar pain, she wrote the book, Gut Feelings: Social and Emotional Struggles With Crohn's & Colitis. 


Five years later, in May of 2020, she left her body after having complications from brain surgery. I'm running 26 miles to commemorate her life and the number of years I was privileged enough to grow with her beautiful soul. All donations to this wonderful cause, big or small, are so appreciated!

 

For decades, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation has been dedicated to its mission of finding a cure for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis and improving the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. The Foundation has defined itself by sponsoring the best and brightest researchers and seeding the field with groundbreaking studies and research initiative to advance the understanding and treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease ("IBD").

This fall I will be competing in the Virginia Quintuple Anvil Triathlon: USA Ultra Triathlon 

Located in Lake Anna State Park near Charlottesville, VA, it will consist of a 12-mile swim, 560-mile bike, and a 131-run. 703 miles total, all to be completed solo. All to be completed in a single 132-hour push. The clock never stops, and you have 5 days to get to the finish line. This year I will be running for charity: The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and Teton Adaptive Sports.

In 1993 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis: an ulcer that affects the length of your large intestine. It is a disease that is embarrassing and painful at the best of times. It’s debilitating and excruciating at the worst. Little is known about its cause and there in no known cure. It is believed I got sick as a result of a hyper-immune reaction to unpasteurized organic apple juice that had gone bad.

I was placed on numerous medications with countless side-effects: from face swelling, bad acne, hair loss, and spontaneous muscle atrophy. I was being destroyed by the illness and the medications. Occasionally the drugs worked but I was still admitted to the hospital often when my condition would flare up and I had to be given drugs intravenously. I weigh a healthy 150lbs: the last time I left the hospital I weighed 115lbs. I went to my parent’s house and tried to get to my upstairs bedroom: I collapsed walking up one flight of stairs I was so weak.

I had always prided myself on being an athlete…now I couldn’t even walk a flight of stairs. I put on a pair of my road cycling shorts and they dangled around my legs I was so badly atrophied.

The pain was so unbearable I would collapse and shake for minutes and hours at a time. In 1996 I got to the Cleveland Clinic of Florida: one of the foremost hospitals in the world for my condition. The head of the department reviewed my file and two weeks later I went back for my follow-up. My options were these: have surgery, or have colon cancer by the time I was 30. I was 25.

January 10, 1997 I entered the hospital and had my entire large intestine removed. After two 8-hour surgeries it was time to begin my recovery…and my life over. 24 years later its ramifications still affect me daily and made me what I am, and who I am.

 The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation is dedicated to advanced research in finding a cure for this debilitating disease that over 1.6 million people suffer from: most are between the ages of 15 and 35. It has defined itself by sponsoring the best and brightest researchers and seeding the field with groundbreaking studies and research initiative to advance the understanding and treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease ("IBD")

Crohns and Colitis Foundation  

Seeing as I live-in small-town USA, I am always trying to shop local, and live locaI. As such, I wanted to keep some of the monies raised local. Enter Teton Adaptive Sports. This is an important local organization that provides incredible winter and summer outdoor recreation opportunities for people with disabilities.

Teton Adaptive Sports 

This is the donation page for The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

If you are interested in donating to Teton Adaptive Sports, click here: Teton Adaptive Sports fundraising page 

Or consider splitting your donation and give to both!

Anything you can donate to help is appreciated. No donation is too small. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Each year Paul Mitchell the School-Cincinnati has FUNraising season March-May where they raise money for 8 national charities and 1 local charity. This year for our local charity we selected a charity that is near and dear to my heart, the Crohn's Colitis Foundation . 

My sister, Katie Cawley, is my best friend, the funniest person I know, and my hero. She'll probably be embarrassed by this, but I'm raising money for Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Inc., in her honor. I would like to thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me and my family. 
If you were to meet my sister you would never know her struggle that she's gone through with Crohn's. She is warm, friendly, smiling, and quick witted. She is the strongest woman that I know.

Katie was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 14 and at first things were manageable. In high school  she was just like every other teenager, awkward. Standing at 6'1" she was always taller and skinnier than everyone else, but that was the only reason she ever stuck out and she never used her Crohn's as an excuse to get out of something she didn't want to do. Her senior year of high school was a big year though; she met her now husband, John Cawley, and she was accepted to Ohio University.

At OhioU she was able to have as normal of a college experience as anyone else thanks to a treatment called Remicade . However, once college ended so did the positive effects of the Remicade treatment.

Unfortunately, with Crohn's it seems all good treatments eventually come to an end. At the end of Remicade we tried diet changes, Humira, and more but she only got worse. Katie had just married the love of her life, John Cawley, when everything went downhill. John has been the true epitome of “in sickness and in health.” At this time to give her large intestine a break from the inflammation Katie received an ileostomy bag.



Despite their efforts though in 2016 they had no other option but to remove Katie's large intestines. You read that right, a whole organ. Thanks to that removal though it held her Crohn's at bay until roughly the fall of 2018.

Fall 2018 to now have been endless tests, scans, treatments, hospital visits/stayovers, and so much more. Nothing like ringing in the New Year with your husband in a hospital bed or being 31 and hitting the quota on how many CATScans someone should have in their lifetime. But that is not why I am telling you about her story because there are worse things that could happen from here on.

Now at the young age of 31, Katie has run out of options for Crohn's treatments available. She has become immune to every single one of the FDA approved treatments, so she will now have to enter clinical trials. As her sister, her husband, and her family we are now medically helpless with what we can do other than being the strongest support system around. We might not be doctors, but what we can do medically is to help raise funds for the research of  treatment options.

There are so many people out there with Crohn's and Colitis just like Katie that need our help in raising awareness about these diseases and they need help in letting others know how we can help to raise donations towards better treatment options for the ones we love.

Thank you so much for your love and support of our Katie.

Sincerely, 
The Cawley and Doyle Families  

More information about Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Inc.: For over decades, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation has been dedicated to its mission of finding a cure for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis and improving the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. The Foundation has defined itself by sponsoring the best and brightest researchers and seeding the field with groundbreaking studies and research initiative to advance the understanding and treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease ("IBD").

“Climbing for Crohn’s”

On August 9th, when I turn 60 years old, I say “goodbye” to one decade and say “hello” to another. As part of this celebration, I wanted to do something challenging and special.

“Hi”, my name is Chris and my son, Zach has Crohn’s disease. As my wife and I watched this disease rob him of many things from his daily life through high school and early college days, prior to his diagnosis, we felt lost in helping him and understanding the disease itself. The disease even went undiagnosed for several years, leaving us with many gaps of what was going on and understanding his pain. Now with medicine his disease is under control, but as so many suffer with Crohn’s or Colitis daily, I can’t help but wonder how many people, parents, and friends feel the same way we did in not understanding the disease and its effects. That's why my challenge is to help raise awareness in finding earlier and faster detection of the disease.

Loving the aura of the mountains, but being from the Midwest, has not always given me great opportunities to enjoy hiking and climbing in the Rocky Mountains. I have never climbed to the top of a mountain, but decided that would be my birthday celebration. As I was discussing my idea with my wife, it occurred to do this not for me, but for my son’s disease.  We called it, “Climbing for Crohn’s”!

That was even more reason to challenge myself in climbing to the top of a mountain and to help raise awareness for Crohn’s and Colitis.

I have decided to climb Colorado’s highest mountain, Mt. Elbert. The climb is not a technical one, but rather a long steady climb to the highest point. Starting early morning at the trailhead, myself, and hopefully others will begin the climb to raise awareness for Crohn’s and Colitis.

Join me as I train and prepare for this adventure by donating, and follow me through this website and my social media. Along the way, I hope you can donate, and more importantly, to share with your friends and family and be part of this cause to reach our goal of $3000. Let’s do this together, because as we all know, together we can make the difference!