Gray Family Raise Money For Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis
Gray Family Raise Money For Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis
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Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
Gray Family Raise Money For Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative ColitisSYRACUSE – Roughly 70,000 Hoosiers suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
About 3.1 million Americans suffer from Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
Syracuse residents Roger and Stacy Gray, both volunteers for the Indiana chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation had a Crohn’s benefit to help find a cure for Crohn’s and Colitis on Dec. 7, said Roger. This was the second year the benefit has been put on and was held at Syracuse Eagles Lodge 3760.
“Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are collectively known as inflammatory bowel diseases. And depending on which diagnosis you have, it can affect anywhere from your mouth or your throat, all the way down your entire digestive tract to your rectum,” said Amanda Thomas, development coordinator for the Indiana chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. “It can totally impact anywhere in the body, dependant on which one you have.”
Symptoms for Crohn’s disease include fatigue, low-energy and possible internal bleeding or blood in the person’s stool, as well as frequent bathroom visits, said Thomas.
“(The disease) can be very, very debilitating sometimes,” said Thomas, also saying it’s an invisible disease.
While some people who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases can go into remission, that doesn’t mean the person is cured, Thomas said. Things like a person’s diet, as well as any stressors like holidays, can affect them. However, things that affect one person with these types of diseases may not affect another person with the disease or in a similar fashion.
“It’s not ideal to talk about,” said Thomas, but it is important to talk about it in awareness and advocacy sense to inform people of what the disease is.
Crohn’s can impact anyone from any age or ethnicity or race. The largest age range of those diagnosed are those in the 8- to 10-years-old range. The second biggest age range diagnosed with the disease are those between 18 and 35, said Thomas. “It does not discriminate, it can truly affect anyone,” she said.
Roger said the goal was to raise $2,000 during the eight-hour Dec. 7 event, which ended up raising $2,200. In addition, Roger said an anonymous donor matched the money Thursday that had been raised, doubling the money that was donated to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.
The benefit on Dec. 7 had several members of the Eagles Lodge help with it and had such things as a silent auction, bracelet and bake sales, as well as donations to raise the money, Roger said. There were several vendors that donated vouchers for things such as oil changes, hotel stays and massages.
Roger said the benefit was started because Stacy has Crohn’s. It was held during the first week of December because the first week of December is Crohn’s awareness week.
The money donated to the foundation will help the foundation to find a cure for the diseases, as well as bring better quality of life to those who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases.
“The way we are able to do that is through our support groups, through our educational groups, through Camp Oasis,” said Thomas.
Camp Oasis is a week-long camp ran by the foundation. Indiana residents go to the camp in Fenton, Mich.
Thomas said many people come forward once they are aware once they’re made aware of it.
