Crohn's and Colitis

The Singing Stalker

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine suffers from the above. As there is no cure for it she has no choice but to live with it and get on with her day to day life. Trust me you probaly don't want to get it.

She decided to try to raise some money for www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk who offer support to sufferers by going on a trek to Everest Base camp.
She has paid for all the costs herself to do the trip with months spent in the gym and walking over hill and dale to ensure her fitness levels.
The funny thing is she is only a slip of a girl. If you saw her you would wonder how the hell she would manage to survive up there.
But she is one of those terriers with rottie attitude and if she decides to do something she is gonna do it. So fair play to her. I wouldn't want to do it.

Her words.
In four weeks, I will be trekking to Everest Base Camp. The trek is arduous: 12 days' ascent (descending in 2 days) plus 2 acclimatisation days. From the scary Lukla airstrip, it's all high altitude, before reaching Base Camp at 5,364 metres (17,598 ft), hopefully taking in the peak of Kala Pattar - altitude 5,545 metres (18,192 ft) - and not everyone makes it, as there is only 50% oxygen up there!!
A friend did the trek recently - and watched someone die from altitude sickness... Blisters, altitude sickness, Khumbu throat and frost nip are all awaiting me - as well as the yak trains that threaten to throw trekkers off the mountain edges! And those hole-in-the-ground toilets...
100% of all money kindly donated will go to my charity, www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk - my flights, kit and training weekends have all been paid for (don't ask how much - I'll total it when I return!).
There is currently no cure for either Crohn's or Colitis, but this charity offers support for sufferers and their families - please be generous with your donations as it will be encouraging when I'm flagging on the trek and wishing I hadn't started this nonsense!
Please dig deep, and thank you x


So if your feeling flush or even have a few quid to spare the she would appreciate anything you can spare.
https://www.justgiving.com/Flame-Haired-Warrior

Many thanks for reading this.

TSS
 
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This is a subject that is very close to home having lost half my small bowel to Crohn's. Fair play to her - Stickied for a good cause! :thumb:
 
Agree totally. I only lost about 18 inches of large and small bowel but its enough! About 1 in every 1000 has Crohn's and 1 in every 500 has Colitis so unfortunately there should be a few more suffers on the site.
 
That is or was your 'ileum', Bob. I'm without mine for the same reason.
It does make stalking or outdoor activity a challenge, so this girl's drive, and achievement need to be seen in that light.
 
Feel for her and the above. I have lost 2/3rds lower bowel to Ulcerative Crohns, permanent colostomy and on sick leave for last 7.5 years. But it's what you make of it so "good on her". Personally without Crohns i'd never have taken up stalking being too busy working, so i have no complaints. And to repay the NHS and help people in my position i've become a Health Peer Mentor - tho i've been too ill recently to be able to commit any time to it
 
I lost half my small and large bowel to this in 2000. not my fondest memorys but luckily ive not had any further flare ups.
 
I to have suffered with ulcerative colitis since I was 15, now at 65 I'm in remission due to a drug called Methotrexate, a drug used in chemotherapy treatment. For 40 years my life was one that revolved around excruciating pain and involuntary bowel movements up to 15 a day, its debilitating illness that drains you, for the last 5 years I've been on the Metho, but have to have monthly blood tests as the drug is carcinogenic. All sufferers get on with their lives to the best of their ability, and live with the consequences of sudden unexpected visits to the toilet and loss of blood from your rear end, bouts of little or no energy, over the years I've had 2 operations and over a year all told of in patient care. BUT there is always someone worse off than you, you live with it, enjoy life when you're well and retire to your bed when not, doctors still do not know the real cause of it, but treatment with drugs to control the immune system now seem to work with some, dig deep an pray someone close to you does not go down with it. deerwarden. :oops:
 
Well done TSS.

My wife was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis earlier this year and things have been difficult for her. I can only sympathise with Pamela and the other posters here that have suffered with the disease.

A worthy cause.

LT.
 
Ok I knew there was likely to be a few on here but wasn't expecting so many. My sympathies to all who suffer this. I have been trying to think of something offering words of sympathy and such but just find that as a non sufferer I really can't think of anything that doesn't sound stupid.
I will leave it that Pam is off on Friday to start her trip and I'm sure I will get the details of it when she gets back.
300 photos and a jelly sandwich please.
Here we are at the airport.
Here we are at the duty free shop
Here we are on the runway.
Shes gonna kill me when she sees this

She still has a long way to go on what she hopes to be able to donate to the charity so please drop her a few quid if you have the time. https://www.justgiving.com/Flame-Haired-Warrior
Many thanks for your time
 
I take my hat off to her - and will ping a few bob in the kitty.....

I know exactly what she's going through; I suffered from chronic ulcerative colitis from the age of 15 until 25 (and anyone with UC or Chrohn's does "suffer" - anyone with, or close to someone with, either condition knows just what I mean, it's not just me being melodramatic). After 10 years of ongoing high levels of medication, frequent hospitalisation, etc, I eventually had my entire colon removed and a portion of my ileum reshaped into a 'pouch' to try and replicate the function of the colon. (....to put things into context, the surgery route was pretty heavily influenced by the likelihood of bowel cancer developing if I did nowt.). At the time I had this particular 2-stage op (step 1: colon out, reshape part of ileum, form external stoma to permit internal healing, step 2: tuck everything back in & fasten 2 ends together), it was still in its infancy - I was only the 80th person on the planet to have had it, so it was still very much an unknown quantity, but you know what? The alternative was even scarier....
:eek:

15 years on, and about the only downside is a scar up my abdomen about 16" long - guess I can kiss bye-bye to that contract modelling Calvin Klein undies.....:doh: .

I truly sympathise with anyone that has UC or Chrohns's; I was lucky enough to be 'cured' (albeit only via removal of a large portion of my body), and it changed my life - and that's not just a figure of speech. Once I was fit, I changed jobs to one which involved flying all over Europe, I got married and had 2 fantastic kids, started playing squash & running, did the Yorkshire 3-peaks challenge 3 times, ran the M/cr 10k, etc, etc .....and took up stalking!!:D. (...the op did nothing for my ability on a BMX bike, but that's another story......:oops:)

Wish your friend all the very best of luck from me.

(....and if anyone contemplating this type of surgery wants to ask me for any further info as someone that has actually been through it, I'd be happy to help. I know how daunting it is.)
 
I did this trip in 2006, tell her to take some high energy snacks she likes as the food varies in quality/palatability from tea room to tea room!

I suffer from IBS so it made the trip interesting at times, take some decent toilet paper albeit the facilities can be interesting!! Namache bazaar has some good accommodation and more importantly good hot showers.

Good luck and if PM me if she needs anymore info.

Regards mick
 
I'm not pushing but have you seen the fabulous offer for stalking in support of my friends trip?
[h=2]Stalking Auction - for Crohns and Colitis[/h]go have a look. I put in the first bid. Next up!!
Thanks guys for the fantastic auction. I'm chuffed and will text Pam over in the Himalayas. I have no idea if she will get the text but I'm all excited about it and it is nothing to do with me.
 
crohn,s and colitis

well the best of luck to her ,i suffer from a high pain ibs and my nephew has crohns not very nice but we both get on with it ,my uncle had colitis if want you want to help yourself try a bowel detox by www.blessedherbs .com[ see a doc first ] helped me no end i think the the prob is the crap in our food, i also use a pre and probiotic,s and a herb husk ,herbs are the key as they are missing from our diets get reading books on it as i did, did me a lot of good
 
I have passed that on to her thanks.
A number of years ago I started reading up on health and what you should eat and why. The books were from a company called credence.org. Google them if your interested. I found the subject of the books made interesting reading, specially as I know nothing about this sort of thing. They were well written and for me, easy to understand. Nothing specific to Crohns but good reading none the less.
 
A shooting friend with colitis is treated every 8 weeks in hospital with Remicade. Works good for him. Can live in a normal way, except being carefull what he eats and drinks.
 
Well Pam has made it back into the country. Selfishly it appears that she didn't bring me back a stick of rock. So I will be giving her some abuse over the error of her ways. I will hopefully receive a full report from her which I will post on here to bore, sorry delight everybody.
Pam has been a friend of mine and the wife for a long time now and it was good for me to be able to offer her some support her by donating some money and promoting her charity on here. Luckily I am not a sufferer of this but I wasn't expecting so much response from people here on the SD or the amount of people that this has touched. I also wasn't expecting some of the very kind offers that I have received from some people privately and I am deeply touched by these kind offers. So much so I got a bit emotional about it.

BUT I'M BACK TO NORMAL NOW!!!

So finally a really big thank you to all who donated to Pams trip, for those who didn't there is still time, stick a fiver in if your feeling flush. (Gotta get the promotion in :))
Thank you to Landy1 for the offer of the Auction.
Hopefully we will be having 2 reports to read. One about a trip to base camp and the other about 2 successful stalks.
I am going to avoid sounding like a pop star and thanking my mom and accountant and hairdressor.

That's it. I'm done. :thumb:

TSS
 
Well done to Singing Stalker and also to Landy1 for organising the auction (and biker1 the lucky winner!), really looking forward to the reports!

Once again the generosity of SD members shines forth! :D

Alex
 
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