Monday, May 09, 2011

Become one of my Crohnies today!!!



I have officially joined TEAM CHALLENGE. Not only am I a honoree, but now a participant. That means that I will be fundraising to help find a cure for Crohn's and Colitis. I will be fundraising, training, and running a half marathon on July 17th. I will be running the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon out in California. I will be fundraising $3900 and would like to reach that goal by June 30th. Let's all work together to make this happen.

I wrote this song to tell the story of getting sick and finding out I had Crohn's.

I will be posting a new song each week until my race.

Enjoy and please donate to my fundraising goal. Over 80 cents of each dollar goes to the cause. Please consider becoming one of my Crohnies today.

Here is a link for my fundraising page: Become one of my Crohnies here

Remember Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. :)

1 comment:

Dustin said...

Hi Melissa,

I found your blog while researching how to lose weight while battling Crohn's. I applaud all that you are doing. As someone who has had her ups and downs for 14 years, I can confirm that you are Superwoman! While I initially lost weight, my disease has evolved to a point where my abdomen is almost constantly distended (maternity clothes are the only things that fit) and my body is hoarding calories, since it was starved for years. The silver lining to my cloud was a consistent and reasonable weight - I could eat what I wanted or needed to and my clothes always fit. Alas, I have gained 20 lbs in the past 2-3 years and eating "healthy" and working out both can make me sick. I used to be a big runner, so I envy your determination and know I need to dig deep to find it within. I did want to tell you that I met Dr. Cohen once, for a second opinion, and while U of Chicago is always rated well, I found much more personal support and care at Northwestern. Dr. Barrett is Chief of the GI Dept and is their resident Crohn's expert. He trained under Dr. Hanauer (@ UofC) and travels the world, so I always feel like I am getting a million second opinions. Dr. Barrett also is in tune with non-traditional approaches to this disease, such as Mindfulness Meditation. Regardless of what doc you see, you may want to look into meeting with Beth Doerfler, who is a dietitian at NW. She works with a lot of Crohn's patients and has a lot of material to back up her recommendations. As hard as I have tried, I could never find good dietary recommendations that were appropriate for my specific type of disease, so her knowledge has been invaluable. Good luck with all of your races! You are an inspiration to us all!