Dave is a 33 year veteran of dealing with Crohn’s Disease from State College, PA (almost as long as I have had it). As you can see by his photo, he has his hands full with 2 young ones under 8 years old and tries to squeeze in a round of golf when he can. Crohn’s will not only wear you down, but so will 2 young ones!

He has been quite fortunate dealing with Crohn’s for as long as he has not having to have surgery. His go-to drugs right now is Humira, Pentasa, Iron and Calcium. He has had flairs here and there and hasn’t been in remission for longer than a year.

Some of the challenges like most Crohnnies is lack of energy and depression of dealing with it every day. The one thing that he wants people to know that it is always constant pain. The general public have to realize that people with Crohn’s aren’t lazy when we are tired. We are just truly tired when we say it. He, like myself, try not to allow Crohn’s to be an excuse to why we can’t do something. Sometimes it will happen, but for the most part, we all just power through it.

He, like myself is scared of having a permanent colostomy.  I remember being prepped for surgery and they had a mark on my side for a colostomy in the event that they had to go that route. When I woke up from my surgery, I reached down to my side to feel if there was one there, and it wasn’t, thank God.

The other thing that people with Crohn’s deal with is the cost to maintain it. We actually have to make some sacrifices so we can get our medications. Humira is about $2,400 for just one injection (generally you have 2 in a month). Of course insurance will cover the majority of it, but I have in the past had co-pays of upwards of $250 a month. It’s not easy and can take a financial toll on us at times. There are a lot of people that will actually file for bankruptcy because of the costs to maintain Crohn’s.

Dave is one of the reasons I run.

Want to help find a cure? Please help me get to my new goal of $2500 and support me and my ‘crohnnies’ help find a cure and run this marathon together.

You can donate here in support the CCFA.