CCFA walk raises money to ‘Be Heard’

On Saturday, (Oct. 20), The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) held its third ‘Take Steps, Be Heard’ walk at the J.B. Hunt corporate campus in Lowell.

Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis make up the IBDs-the Irritable Bowel Diseases.

“Whether you know it or not, you know someone with IBD,” noted Dr. Chad Wigington, a gastroenterologist at Mercy Hospital.

Forty-two teams signed up to participate in this year’s walk. J.B. Hunt provided the location for the walk and had corporate teams who fundraised in addition to raising more than $8,000 just by conducting five “blue jean days.” Saturday’s event raised a little more than $50,000. Mercy Hospital, J.B. Hunt, several Wal-Mart departments and Walgreens sponsored the event.

Hometown hero, Jesse Shaw, was diagnosed at age five with Ulcerative Colitis.

“It has kept me back from feeling completely normal,” Shaw shared. “It gets frustrating when my friends don’t know what I go through but I totally understand it’s not very common.”

But in actuality, in the United States, one in every 200 people is afflicted with an irritable bowel disease, either Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis. Those who are suffering from an IBD just tend to suffer in silence.

“It’s not exactly table conversation,” said Shelly, Jesse’s mother.

For this reason, one of the primary goals of Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is to simply raise awareness. The Take Steps walk encourages sufferers to make some noise, to ‘be heard’ instead of dealing with this disease alone.

In 2011, $140,000 was raised in Arkansas. These funds help improve support network programs in Arkansas and fund research. More than 80 cents of every dollar raised goes straight to research and aid programs in the local community.

Among those in attendance was a father-son duo, Kevin and Braden Carroll respectively. They were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease within a few weeks of one another, with 95% of Braden’s small intestine damaged. He had a bowel resection due to the severity of the disease. This was three years ago. Braden is now 13 and luckily in remission. He makes trips to Kansas City every eight weeks to receive his treatment, an IV infused medication called Remicade.

A handsome young man, he smiled and said “Hey, I get to watch a movie while I’m there.”

Team Braden had raised more than $1,000 for the event but will keep fundraising until the deadline in November.

“This is why we are here. Together, we can find a cure,” Kevin Carroll emphasized.

Kristin Trulock, community development manager, first became involved with CCFA when her son was diagnosed with Crohn’s at the age of two.

“He’s my reason for doing this. We want to spread awareness and have really only touched 1%m,” she explained.

Within the next two years, Trulock envisions the NWA area having its own chapter and office.