Take Steps Home Video Contest Winner!

To kick things up a notch and to encourage our teams to tell us how they REALLY feel about participating in the Take Steps walk, we had a contest this year to see which team could make the best team video! Our winning team was Team UCVlog with an amazing, and inspiring video! Check it out below!

Nadia and Dennis are two young people that were diagnosed with Crohn's colitis and ulcerative colitis respectively several years ago. They both had their colons removed, lived with an ostomy, and now both live with fully-functioning J-pouches! They each started making videos to tell their stories to others who are going through these diseases. This year, they teamed up and created the United Colon Vlog, and have so far had lots of success with outreach and raising awareness!

This year, Nadia and Dennis decided to start a Take Steps team to raise money for research and to give back to their Crohn's and Colitis community, since they have experienced dramatic improvements in health since their surgeries.

"We hope that one day a cure can be found, since we know how terrible these diseases can get. We are confident that in our long lives ahead of us, some great progress will be made!"

~Nadia and Dennis and Team UCVlog!

Brother and Sister Take Steps together to Fight Crohn's disease!

Laurel and Zach are your typical brother and sister. Laurel is the older sister who drives her brother around with her driver's license. They go to the same school, same summer camp, and share pets, friends, and hobbies.

Laurel and Zach also share something different than the typical brother and sister duo. They both have Crohn's disease.

According to Laurel, living with Crohn’s disease is something that really brings them together because it is something that they are both going through. "We can talk to each other whenever we have problems and it is really nice to have someone to confide in who is going through the same things."

Here is another twist to their story. Not only do they both suffer from Crohn’s disease, but their dad is also a Gastroenterologist. Talk about a family who knows their IBD!

Laurel and Zach attend a yearly summer camp, Camp Oasis, for children living with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. They both have made so many close friends over the years that have IBD. They are both very passionate about raising money because the research that their fundraising supports directly affects their quality of life.

According to Laurel, "I see what my friends and I go through on a daily basis and I just want to make it better for the next generation."

Also just like any brother and sister, Zach and Laurel definitely like to compete against one another! This is why they each formed a fundraising team for the Take Steps walk in Minneapolis on May 23! Zach's Team and Project CURE are their competing teams with goals of $500 each! While this competition is fun, at the end of the day they are still fighting for the same cause.

Project CURE is a nonprofit fundraising group Laurel created by selling bracelets to raise money for CCFA's Camp Oasis. So far, through Project CURE, Laurel has raised over $7,000. Camp Oasis is so important to Laurel and Zach, and they want everyone who lives with Crohn's or Colitis to have the opportunity to attend camp. Meeting other kids who take the same meds, have the same problems, and aren't embarassed to talk about it is so important for kid's with Crohn's and Colitis.

Laurel and Zach hope you can join them May 23, at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis to fundraise for Crohn's and Colitis research!

300 person challenge!

Ready or not, the Rochester, Twin Cities and Sioux Falls walks are almost here! If you haven't already registered your walk team - it is time to get the ball rolling! Check out our top teams at each walk site:

Twin Cities Top Fundraising team: Team IBD Society: $3,895 so far!

Twin Cities Largest Team: Team Mahmud - 21 Team Members!

Rochester Top Fundraising Team: The Clean-out Crew: $2,245 so far!

Rochester Largest Team: - The Clean-Out Crew - 11 team members!

Sioux Falls Top Fundraising Team: Stephanie's Crohnies: $385 so far!

Sioux Falls Largest Team: Stephanie's Crohnies" 7 team members!

As you can see, these walks are doing awesome. But we still need more people signed up! That is why the week of April 12 - 16 will be our "300 - person challenge" week. Between all three walk sites, our goal is to get 300 people signed up to walk this week!

Let the registering begin!

CCFA Spirit Week

Be Heard and Spread the Word for CCFA Spirit Week

We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, how ‘bout YOU?

This week through March 12, our chapter will be celebrating “Be Heard and Spread the Word for CCFA Spirit Week”. During this Spirit Week, we hope to increase community support and awareness of IBD and ensure we have lots of people joining us on walk day!

As an individual, you can do just three things quite easily this week to spread the awareness to at least 100 people (even if you don't know all of them!).

1. Remind yourself why you are involved with Take Steps. Are you walking for yourself or someone you care about?
2. Give yourself about 10 minutes (maybe over a nice bowl of Cheerios) to add pictures and a personal message to your Take Steps webpage so that your donors and fellow walkers can see why CCFA's mission is so important to you! Check out my personal page as an example.
3. Send an e-mail to your personal and/or work address book including a link to your personal page. Ask each of your contacts to not only join or support your team, but to pass the message along to five of their contacts. They can do this by forwarding your e-mail, by posting it to their Facebook account, by tweeting or even blogging about it.

In fact, the person who sends out the most emails by this Friday, March 12, will be the star of next week's blog! So don't wait! Show your spirit today!

~2010 Take Steps Planning Committee

"Walk" in the Name of Love!

Ok, so I know it isn't Valentines Day anymore. But this post isn't about mushy, romantic stuff. This post is about two wives who quite literally, walk in the name of love.

Aja, Team Overcome

My husband's name is Cal and he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2001. After a few years of sickness and a colectomy, the doctors then correctly diagnosed him with Crohn's disease. This was before I married him, before I loved him, even before I knew him. So, when I came into the picture, inflammatory bowel disease and my husband already had a long relationship - one in which I did not know what role to play.

Cal never liked to make a big deal out of his Crohn's - he still doesn't. Cal knows this is something God will use to touch others. He realizes that God has bigger plans for his life and therefore lives each day knowing there is a greater purpose. We have been in and out of the ER multiple times, with me staying beside him, praying for him, sick inside from not knowing how to help him. My natural instincts to want to "make it all better" were going to have to change.


Cal and I - we don't have a cure for Crohn's. But we do have a strength together because of our faith.

Our team name is "Overcome" because Cal went from being a totally health person in college to given two weeks from death. Cal had a complete colectomy, got back on his feet, and today is a personal fitness trainer. Now every time he is given a tough circumstance in life, he has the attitude of overcoming it. And Cal has taught me that to help him get through the tough days, I need to be right next to him fighting Crohn's and not letting it beat us.

So, that is why I am walking this May. Cal and I have to "overcome" this disease so that others can look to us and know that life not only moves on, but can be wonderful!










Jen

My husband Brandon has Crohn's disease. When he has flare-ups or medication issues, it is really hard for me to be an outsider who worries and hopes that everything will get better. I love Brandon and I cannot sit and watch what twists and turns his disease will take.

Take Steps allows me the opportunity to actively participate in making Brandon's life better. I understand that research is vital to finding a cure and better medicines for him, and I am happy to be able to not only throw myself into the cause, but to draw in support from friends and family as well. Last year our friends and family helped me raise over $2,000. I did this in Brandon's name last year, and am very happy to be able to do it again this year!

Watching someone you love struggle with a disease is never easy. Brandon has battled Crohn's disease for twelve years. As his wife and someone who does not personally have to fight Crohn's, like Brandon, I am able to combat the disease from different angles, such as funding research, and raising awareness. Drawing on Brandon's courage helps me to provide complimentary strengths that ease the overall burden of his disease.

Last year was our second year walking in Take Steps and fourth year donating. I hope that all of you who have a loved one with Crohn's or Colitis will take an active role in trying to find a cure. What better way to do it than by gathering your friends and family and joining together to walk this May?

Loud and Proud!

Loud and Proud Club!



Every year, we encourage members of our Take Steps walk to be a part of our Loud and Proud Club. With all of the e-mails, phone calls, mailings, and events that we are all bombarded with every day, you might not even remember what this so called "club" even is. Let me introduce you to our Loud and Proud Club members from the 2009 walk, and I will explain what they did to get in, and what they got out of it!



2009 Loud and Proud Club Members


Cynthia Becker
Amanda Kanewischer
martin matsoff
Raphaela Cogan
Dayna Johnson
Madeline Matsoff
Olivia Matsoff
Jane Matsoff
Jeanette Lepore
Laura Loppnow
Marc Matsoff
Zoe Burton
Holly Brogaard
Marjorie Kostouros
Stephanie Campbell
Judy VanSlooten
Yan Kravchenko
Dawn Johnson
Mike Balint
Daniel Strumberger
Kasey Heimstead
PJ Ritters
Mary Dunnewold
Jessica Valentyn
Mindy Czycalla
Kara Nielsen
Jen Barkosky
Angela Sieber
Jennifer Schneider
Trudi Bellmore
Samuel Collette
Stacey Myhro
Tyler Jacobson
Nancy Sorjanen
Helen Matsoff



Loud and Proud Club members committed to raising a minimum of $1,000 for the walk last year. All by themselves! Several of these people fundraised on teams that raised a lot more than that!



Aside from a big pat on the back, being a Loud and Proud Club member has its advantages. The day of the walk, L & P members receive a nice drawstring bag to carry all of their goodies in. Also, L & P club members are also given a VIP pass to a chair massage station compliments of Advanced Chiropractic and Massage.



So... if you are thinking about fundraising, AND you love chair massages and free goodies - let's talk about you becoming the newest member of our L & P club.

~Maggie Mau, Loud and Proud Club Member

I am Taking my Life Back!: Episode 2

Linda's Story



After living with Crohn's disease for 25 years my GI doctor in Michigan suggested I begin a support group. Little did I know that starting a CCFA Chapter in Lansing would benefit me as well as the patients who attended. I believe that we need support from others to live with a chronic illness but we must educate as well. I held monthly meetings for patients and their families and provided lists of recommended reading, showed videos, and talked about my own experience. When I contacted the newspaper and TV stations they told me that they would give me PR when I had a fundraiser to promote. I then realized that the best way to get the word out about Crohn's and Colitis is to hold fundraisers.



Because I was a committee of just me, I did it all. I wrote to tons of famous people and received all kinds of amazing items for the silent auction. The biggest items I received were 2 round-trip tickets from an airline. The woman at the airline called to tell me that they receive 2,000 letters a month and out of those, they picked mine. With these items, I held a bowl-a-thon/silent auction and raised several thousand dollars.


I also was able to show my appreciation for my GI of 20 years by naming him Physician of the Year. I had a movie gala (which they do a lot of in Michigan). His colleagues and family came, I presented him with a plaque which my daughter gave to him, we had food donated and everyone was given movie passes to see the movie of their choice. I asked everyone for donations to be included in the program we passed out - my dentist, insurance carrier, friends, relatives, everyone. Raised quite a bit for that event too which was satisfying.


In order to raise awareness about Crohn's disease, we must reach out to those with the disease as well as to the public to educate them on this illness. I'm having a set back now and am back on steroids which prompts me to work even harder for this walk and to make the people of Rochester aware of what the CCFA is doing to help us. I hope you will join me on May 16 at East Silver Lake Park in Rochester by registering today to raise awareness and funds to keep the mission of CCFA going in our own community!



The video below was posted on the Mayo Clinic's blog. Click on the link to read the whole story!



From Mayo blog: http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2009/09/10/becoming-an-employee-after-35-years-as-a-mayo-patient/

~Linda , Rochester Take Steps 2010