I'm running for my cousin Kevin. This is his story:

"Hi my name is Kevin, I am 49 years old, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2002 when I was 26. I remember that day well. When I left the hospital I sat in the multi-storey car park and cried for 30 minutes worrying about how my life was going to change.

The symptoms which prompted me to se my G.P we’re abdominal pain and I was constantly running to the toilet. In 2003 Crohn's was not a common disease, I had never know anyone who had it. It’s a different world now, I’m sure everyone knows someone with Crohn's or colitis or IBD.

My symptoms continued everyday for 9 years, over those 9 years I was getting admitted to hospital every 3 months for 10 to 14 day’s usually sometimes up to 28 days to be built back up with IV steroids and antibiotics. In a normal day I couldn’t leave the house as I always needed to be close to a bathroom and I never had any energy. I was always tired.

Then in 2011 was rushed into hospital for emergency surgery. What was supposedly a routine operation of about 2/3 hours took 9 hours, many complications. When I woke in recovery afterwards the nurse sadly told me I had a Stoma/ileostomy but I was delighted because I knew that would make my day to day life easier.

It did make easier but little did I know would lead to other health problems, parastomal hernias, hernia surgeries for repair, a high uric acid count which would lead to Kidney stones, kidney function issues and Gout and I couldn’t absorb any nutrients from food which again would lead me back to multiple hospital admissions, some of which would last a month.

Bowel surgery again in 2016, another complicated surgery more bowel removed and stoma re-sited . The previous problems all came back quickly and again loads of hospital admissions followed.

From 2016 to 2023 went by quickly I was frequently changing my biological treatments to try and find one that worked for well for me. I started a new treatment in 2022 which worked well, I still had my hospital admissions but that was just normal life at this stage.

Then on the 24 August 2023 I was admitted again with abdominal sepsis. It was due to an infection in my bowel which in turn was caused from Crohn’s disease. I had lost a lot of weight due to infection and was too weak for surgery. When I was in hospital I was Nil by mouth for 6 months and was fed through a PIC line. I didn’t have any surgical options due to not having much bowel left because of the previous surgeries I have had. When my weight was back up again I had multiple surgeons from different hospitals to hopefully do their magic.

And they did! I left hospital on 21 August 2024 3 days short of a year. I am now getting used to the new normal.

Everybody knows someone with either Crohn’s, Colitis or many of the other irritable bowels diseases. That’s because it is more common now and the numbers seem to be growing every year. Drug treatments are getting better all the time and Surgeons are becoming more aware of the needs of these patients.

Unfortunately like most things it comes down to money, research and training. The advances in the last 20 years are the reason I am alive today.

Living with Crohn’s disease has been far from easy, it limits everything you do from hobbies to work. You just get used to living one day at a time never know what tomorrow will bring.

Crohn’s and Colitis UK are a wonderful organisation who work tirelessly to not only help patients with these conditions but hope to someday prevent them through research and medical advances."