Thank you for looking at my JustGiving page; so far this year to raise money for CCUK I plan to walk the annual Crohn's and Colitis 5km Walk in York, and also run the Great North Run.

Here's some (a lot of) information to draw you in and convince you to sponsor me...

Crohn's disease, like Ulcerative Colitis (UC), is an inflammatory bowel disease. Together, they affect about 1 in every 250 people in the UK; and although they can affect all ages (I've read about toddlers with Crohn's), diagnosis is usually between the ages of 10 and 40, so it's definitely not reserved for the later years of life.

For Crohn's disease the main symptoms are pain in the abdomen, urgent diarrhoea, general tiredness and loss of weight. Crohn’s is sometimes associated with other inflammatory conditions affecting the joints, skin and eyes. (http://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/content/ibd.asp)

I feel that a general description of the symptoms simply doesn't do this cause justice, so here are the uncomfortable facts about my experience:

Over the course of a year, aged 21, I went from noticing changes in my toilet habits (I did say uncomfortable facts, I meant uncomfortable reading for you..), to having lost a stone in weight, at worst, experiencing diahhorea upto 15-20 times per day alongside crippling stomach pains which left me doubled-over on the shop floor where I worked. Due to the stress on my body, and mentally, it lead to me having upwards of 13 mouth ulcers at any given time, this in turn made eating very difficult; usually I ate a few mouthfulls of food before crying and giving up. For a few weeks I just stuck to coco pops as it was all I could take. I began suffering from panic attacks due to the anxiety I experienced not only because of my fear of having an accident as soon as I left the house, but also the fear of the unknown; I'd never heard of IBD, and pretty much had myself convinced I had bowel cancer. I blamed myself for my changing bowel habits; convinced it was because I'd never made an effort to learn to cook so most of my meals weren't particularly healthy or nutritious; this probably didn't help but certainly wasn't the cause. Socially I became a bit of a recluse, too scared to go anywhere unneccesary in case I wouldn't be able to get to a toilet quick enough.

Luckily, my Crohn's disease is under control at present and has been since early 2012. though even this isn't straight forward. I take immunosupressants which in the long-term have risks associated with them, and it also means 3 monthly blood tests.

The exact cause(s) of Crohn's disease is as yet unknown, it is believed that both environmental and genetic factors are likely to be involved. This therefore means there's no cure and sufferers will likely endure ongoing treatment for the rest of their lives, experiencing flare-ups, for some this may be as infrequent as every couple of years, for others its weeks or months. For many the future will include having an operation to remove part of or all of their bowel, unfortunately this like the illness isn't restricted to the older population; I know somebody who is still in their teens and had part of her bowel removed a couple of years ago.

Needless to say I'm keen to support the work of Crohn's and Colitis UK, who offer a lot of advice and support to people with these illnesses, but also their friends and family.

What I want to get out of this page: money for the cause is obvious, but its not just about that. I hope now that if you didn't know about Crohn's before you have an awarenss of it and may be more considerate of your friend, family member, or colleague who keeps running off to the loo, or the person who keeps "going" at work; you don't know what they're going through.

So here's why I want to support CCUK and what the money may do:

£5 could pay for CCUK to reach out to the family of a newly-diagnosed child through their Family Information Pack

£10 could pay for 10 patients to feel more informed about their condition through the booklet "Understanding Crohn's and Colitis"

£20 could pay for a person in distress to receive support from their helplines

£50 could pay for craft material for a Family Fun Day to help children feel normal again

£100 could pay for equipment for a research project

£300 could pay for a Personal Grant for someone in need

Also, on a side note, not in support of Crohn's but a personal request. Due to the nature of this illness I cannot donate blood nor bone marrow, if this is something you are able to do I want to encourage you to do it. If I could, I would. www.blood.co.uk

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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So please dig deep and donate now.