Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis is the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation's walk for a cure. In this video, participants talk about how these diseases have affected their lives, and why they're taking steps toward a future without them.
Chelsea
College:Emory University
Living with IBD is difficult, and I have learned that honesty and openness, and trusting friends and family, will help me live with this disease.
My experience with Crohn’s disease has been anything but typical. The disease was discovered not because I showed symptoms, but because in seventh grade when I got my appendix out, doctors happened to discover an inflammation in the same area. After several tests, Crohn's was diagnosed, but the disease remained in a dormant state until November of eleventh grade, when it flared...
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Cheering on the crowd at a recent Take Steps walk in NYC
Take Steps is the CCFA of America’s largest fundraising event. We raise funds and awareness while we come together to celebrate the steps that have been taken toward cures!
Julie
College:Villanova University
The support and advice from other teens fighting IBD is exactly what could have lifted my morale.
I am a junior nursing major at Villanova University, and I am from Bethesda, MD. I’m involved in both the Washington D.C. and Philadelphia chapters. The past four years, I have participated in the DC chapter’s Take Steps walk, which is one of my favorite awareness and fundraising events. I also participated in my first Day on the Hill in May, where we lobbied to congressmen and...
I am proud to say I am living a healthy and normal college life, well as normal as any IBD patient can have, and am so grateful to be where I am today.
My name is Monica Johnson and I am currently a sophomore electrical engineering major at The University of Texas at Austin. I was born in Chicago, IL and moved to Allen,TX when I was seven years old. I have a younger sister who's 15 and a younger brother who's 9.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when I was just 5...
Proudly rocking the orange and blue at a Take Steps walk!
Rachael Jo
College:Valparaiso University
My family and friends have been a great support, and great disability support services at school to make sure my professors are on the same page as me.
I'm a senior this year, studying Astrophysics and East Asian Studies at Valpo. I keep myself busy with my classes, tutoring, and doing research. I love astrophysics and am applying to graduate school this year to go get my Ph.D. I’d like to study solar physics and hopefully someday end up being a professor at a large university teaching and doing research. When I’m not in class,...
I'm a 22 year old Floridian, making my way through college in Georgia. I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease when I was 9 years old, and I've come to see it as a love/hate relationship. I've been involved with CCFA's Camp Oasis since I was 12 years old as a camper, and the past 5 years as a counselor. I love the community those of us with IBD have come to form, and I'm always looking forward to meeting others that want to talk and bond over an unpleasant but blessing-in-disguise similarity!