Helene Stone
Chris, Helene & Hannah Stone's Crohns MAP Vaccine Fundraising Page
Fundraising for King's College London
Story
My daughter Hannah was diagnosed with Crohn’s at the age of 10, she is now 24.
She was seriously ill by the time her diagnosis was confirmed because it took so long. Her treatments over time included steroids, elemental drinks, Infliximab, 6-MP, Metronidazole, etc. etc. None of these treatments ever worked. Fortunately we found a website – The Chronic Crohns Campaign – which included details of the work of Professor John Hermon-Taylor. For us, his explanation of MAP bacteria causing Crohn’s made absolute sense; we had spent years refusing to believe that such a condition can appear from nowhere without any trigger at all.
Having tried Infliximab and ending up with anaphylaxis and it not having any benefit at all, Hannah was then put onto a triple therapy treatment of Rifampicin, Ciprofloxacin and Clarithromycin, together with a tiny amount of 6-MP (which is believed to have some anti-MAP bacteria action also) and she is currently doing great.
The treatment has worked excellently for Hannah and given her a nearly normal life for approximately the last 7 years. Hannah has had to undergo multiple surgeries however for fistulae that have formed around the rectal area, requiring pus drainage and setons. After Hannah's most recent surgery this year, she developed sepsis from the operation which can be life threatening and had to be admitted to A&E for a 5 day IV antibiotic treatment. Fortunately, she seems to have recovered well.
Hannah’s story shows that there is medication which can actually treat the ROOT CAUSE of this disease, rather than just treating the symptoms, and also that MAP bacteria is most likely the cause of her Crohn’s.
But her medication is not a cure, it is a temporary fix which will need to be tweaked, adjusted and always there is looming in the background the terror of nothing working anymore and then major surgery becoming the only thing on offer.
A vaccine which teaches your own immune system to recognise the MAP is a wonderfully simple solution and it has been proven to work in both mice and cattle.
We are fundraising for this vaccine because we believe 100% it could be a cure for Crohn’s and we would give anything for our beautiful daughter to have the chance of a normal life free from toxic medications, constant surgeries and iron infusions and the constant worry of a chronic illness.
We believe 100% that this vaccine could work, there IS an end in sight to the suffering and WE are the ones who can make it happen – don’t hesitate, do whatever you can, however small you think it may be, it all makes a difference. SPREAD THE WORD, GET INVOLVED, LETS MAKE IT HAPPEN!!
You can follow our (and other Crohn’s MAP Vaccine fundraisers’) campaign here:
https://www.facebook.com/CrohnsMAPVaccineHeroes
More information about the Crohn’s MAP vaccine research and campaign can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/crohnsmapvaccine
www.crohnsmapvaccine.com