Fundraiser = Success

Sorry it took so long for me to let everyone know the outcome of the fundraiser day, with wrapping up the silent auction, being sick and away this weekend I have gotten a little behind. But I am proud to announce that the fundraiser and silent auction was a huge success last week!

The grand total raised that day was over $4,000!!!! That broke down to be $2,355 made off of the silent auction, $200+ made from the Coins For Colitis jars and $1512 donated from Dogfish Head Ale House. Dogfish was so wonderful to work with and so generous, I hope you will please support them when you are able too. It also helps that they have awesome food and beer!

This money will go a long way to improving the lives of so many children and adults that face these disease. I could not be happier with the outcome and have a lot of you to thank for coming out to the event and bidding on my silent auction items. I feel so blessed to have so many friends and family that were able to come out and support me. I thank you from the bottom of my hearts and I will think of each of you as I run the 1/2 marathon...the Lord knows I will need something to focus on!

FUNDRAISER TODAY!

Today is the big day for the fundraiser and silent auction at Dogfish Head Ale House. Dogfish will donate 15% of all proceeds on any food, drinks, gift certificates and take-out for the day to the foundation. So please consider coming for lunch, happy hour or dinner.

Chris and I will getting there around 6/6:30pm and will be floating around all night. Sadly I have just about lost my voice and am under the weather due to allergies, so it would be extra special to me to see so many of you out today!

For more information on the event look on the left hand side of the blog. Thank you everyone for your support!

New Silent Auction Items

This week has been a flurry of activity getting everything set up for the silent auction...now I know why the people at Dogfish thought I was crazy when I told them I was doing it all on my own! Anyway, I am pleased to announce that we have a few more auction items, including: Autographed Ovechkin and Fehr player card from the Capitals, a contemporary rug and a pet basket. Quite an assortment, but that means there is something for everyone so please come on out and bid or just enjoy dinner and drinks!

This morning I was only able to participate in half the practice because my tonsillitis is acting up again, but still got in 4.5 miles. I then had the pleasure of throwing the football around with Nicholas who is now seven and at age three was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. As his mom, Theresa puts it, "Despite all that he endures - a daily regimen of medications, regular hospital visits, many missed days of school, and frequent pain and discomfort - Nicholas is a happy, fun loving, well adjusted, sports enthusiast! We are constantly awed by his strength and perseverance!" Nicholas has basically only known life with this disease and I know that it frustrates him because he feels alone because he doesn't know kids in school that have this disease. A portion of the funds that I am raising will go to Camp Oasis that lets children like Nicholas spend a week with other kids that have been diagnosed. This allows the children to see that they are not alone and build friendships with people that understand them. I know how much being part of CCFA for me has been as an adult so I can only imagine how important it is for a child.

Dogfish Fundraiser in ONE WEEK!

I am very excited that the fundraiser is only one week away. If you have not looked already, I have posted on the left hand side all of the silent auction items that we will be auctioning off. The silent auction will run from 11:30am till 9:30pm.

Please consider coming out, we will be there all evening starting at 6pm, so bring friends and come out for lunch, happy hour or dinner. Fifteen percent of all proceeds will go to finding a cure for Crohn's and Colitis. Don't forget carryout food and beer as well as gift certificates will have a portion of the proceeds donated. At 8pm we will have Over The Line, should be an awesome time!

If for some reason you can't make it, please consider making a donation or talk to me about having a proxy for a silent auction item. Thank you so much for your support!

Life Changing

I met with my team again yesterday morning. It is really great to see how many of them have made connections and are running together during the week together. I am really optimistic about how many people are going cross the finish line for Crohns Disease and UC!

One of the participants that was at the practice yesterday is running for her brother. He was diagnosed in the last year or so with Crohn's disease. Many of you have read about how I felt when I was diagnosed, but for him it was much harder, it meant that he had to give up his life long dream of being in the military. Shortly after he was diagnosed the severity of his disease forced him to quit his job and reevaluate his life.

I am sorry to say that this is something that happens frequently to people with these diseases. Either they have to stop work all together, reduce their hours or switch jobs. Many doctors feel that stress contributes to Irritable Bowel Disease so those that are in stressful professions often times have to give up their career. I have been lucky that my illness is currently under control, but there were times I worried about having to give up my job or loosing my job because of all the sick time I was taking. Hopefully, one day no one will need to make a choice between their job and their health!

Happy Spring!

After taking almost 2 weeks off of running, I decided that I should start training again for our Boston 1/2 marathon. While I am regretting a little bit having another 1/2 marathon in a few months, I was reminded today why I am doing this again.

Today I met my teammates for a lovely 60 minute run along the canal in DC. The weather could have not been any better. The practice was led by the other mentors Julio and Mayra. Julio was diagnosed with Crohn’s in 1999 and has had an up and down experience dealing with the disease. In total, he have lost close to 30 inches of his intestines, withered in weight to less than 125 pounds (he is 6’2”) and was so anemic that he was literally a walking heart attack. Last year Julio and Mayra participated in the Team Challenge program and I am happy they are mentors with me as they are an inspiration. Last year alone they raised $11,000 to help find a cure.

I recently read Julio's blog and this is what he wrote for why he is doing this again, "I do it as I reminder I am in control of my life not this disease; I do it to be an example for my wife and my son to never let challenges prevent you from pursuing your dreams; I do it for others afflicted with Crohn’s, Colitis or any other debilitating disease who struggle with their illness and need a ray of hope that they too can lead a full life in spite of their situation; but most importantly, I do it for the glory of God because in the end that is all that matters."

I find this statement so powerful because that is why I am doing this again. Even though 8am is very early to be running on a Saturday, in the end it is worth it if one day there can be a cure for these diseases.

National 1/2 Marathon

This morning Chris and I ran the National 1/2 Marathon along with our friend Rich. It was gorgeous weather and the race went really well. Chris did awesome for his first 1/2 Marathon with a time of 1 Hour 55 Minutes. I held him back a little bit as he stayed with me for the first 10 miles. I finished in 2 Hours 1 minute. I had really wanted to finish under 2 hours but not too bad with two bathroom stops. I managed to shave 7 minutes off of my Miami time so at least I am improving. Just have to work harder at finishing under 2 hours for the Boston 13.1.

I am really happy to have the opportunity to run this race and the 1/2 Marathon in Boston with Team Challenge, but then I think I am going to stick to the 10 miler races. For some reason I just can't get over how much harder the three additional miles are. Good thing I have no desire to do a full marathon! Plus, lately once I have been getting around 10 miles running it sends my stomach into distress afterwards. Apparently Crohn's Disease does not appreciate all the hard work I am putting into finding a cure for it. Oh well a good excuse to spend the day working on the fundraiser in bed, I can take advantage of the warm weather tomorrow!

Due to the race we skipped practice today, but later this week I hope to post about another mentor's experience with Crohn's Disease.

Feeling Very Blessed

I have had quite a fantastic week that I would like to share. My wonderful husband is entertaining the idea of joining Team Challenge with me for this upcoming season. I feel fortunate to have such a supportive husband who is willing to do something so he can better understand me and my disease. And I realize how much he hates soliciting, so you know that he must really care about me!

I have also had such an awesome success this week with my silent auction donations. In the last week alone I have gotten:

• $500 Flying Gift Certificate from Frontier Airlines

• A $200 value dog training course from Woofs in Arlington
  

• and a $200 value hotel stay at the JW Marriott in DC with breakfast

Looks like the auction is going to go great, plus I am very excited that Over the Line is pumped to be playing at the event. I am amazed at how generous everyone has been to me and I hope that I can use this to make a bigger difference in the lives of those with these diseases. Thank you so much everyone! Even just to know you are supporting me makes all the difference!

1st Practice

Yesterday we had our first practice. Sadly I didn't get to run because I needed to save up my energy for our 12 mile run today. Thank goodness I didn't run because I got sick late last night and am even more worried now that I will struggle with the high mileage. It was great to see all of the participants come out, I was really impressed that a large majority of them were able to run for the full amount of time!

During our training session one of the girls spoke about how awesome she has felt this week after sending out her letters and webpage. She got an overwhelming response from people who knew either a cousin, sister, brother or other family member that is affected by one of these diseases. The girl herself is doing this race for her sister who was diagnosed with Crohn's and has often felt alone. Hearing all of these responses has really helped her sister feel like she is not the only one living with this burden. This is exactly how I felt before I decided to do Team Challenge.

The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation has created such programs like Take Steps and Team Challenge to give people an outlet to talk openly about their disease and find other affected. CCFA also uses funds to lead support groups for children and adults that have been diagnosed with Crohns or Colitis.

I challenge everyone that reads this blog to bring up Crohn's Disease this week in one conversation with a group of people. I would be really curious to see how many people bring up that they know someone with Crohn's Disease. To put it in perspective, 1.4 million people have Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis while 828,000 Americans are battling Leukemia or Lymphoma. Though in my opinion many people know a lot more about blood cancer then irritable bowel diseases.

Silent Auction - April 20th

I was super excited to come home and find a $100 gift certificate in the mail from Sette Bello to use for my upcoming silent auction (April 20th at Dogfish Ale House). This brings the number of auction items to a dozen!

Currently we have a great assortment of gift certificates, a golf package, a hotel package at the JW Marriott in DC, gift baskets, artwork and much much more. Full list to items to come out in a few weeks!

Finding a Cure - Round 2

I had one of my friends from my Miami 1/2 marathon race ask me this weekend if I was going to blog about my second round of fundraising and training as a mentor. My initial reaction was no because I have already told my story. However, over the last few days I realized that other people's stories need to be told, as well as, why I would like people to support the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

Today one of my bosses asked if I raise money because I felt passionate about it or obligated. My first thought was, well I tell everyone in my donation letters that this is my passion, is this really how I feel? My answer to her was, I have a passion for this cause out of obligation. If I did not have Crohn's Disease, I highly doubt I would be participating in my third Team Challenge program in over a year and a half. Because I do have the disease I do feel some obligation to raise funds. However, I do have the option of just raising money for strictly the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. That being said, it is in CCFA's Team Challenge program that I really find my passion. My passion is inspiring and pushing participants to meet both their fund raising and training goals.

I want to inspire people to set a physical goal. I want participants to see me run because I can run. Through this program I realize that people my age have died from complications caused by Crohns; or are currently in the hospital because they are flaring; or simply can't even walk up a flight of stairs because they don't have the energy. I was one of those people at one point, and might some day be back in that position. I think about that often on days I don't want to run, because that is what I use to force myself to get out and run. I have been given this gift and I am going to take full advantage of it and want the other participants to do so as well.

I want others to feel passionate about this cause. You are not going to get very far with fund raising if you don't believe in the cause. Last Thursday I was the keynote speaker at the Team Challenge Kick-Off party. Usually I can talk about anything, but for some reason it was really hard to talk about how Crohn's has affected my life. But I pushed myself to speak because I wanted people to realize that even though I seem "normal", I will never again have a normal life until there is a cure. Everyone deserves to feel normal and healthy, no one should have to feel the way I felt when I was told I have an incurable disease. That is why I am fighting back against IBD and will continue to raise funds to find a cure. I just hope that the participants got that same message and will feel the same way I feel.

Over the next few months I plan to share my experiences with this new group of Team Challenge participants as I mentor them. I will also continue to post on my running and my large event I have planned for April 20th. I hope that you all will continue to follow my progress and will attend my event.