This is my son Carter. He loves to play basketball and watch sports. He is happiest when spending time with his family and friends. Carter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in January 2016, at just 5 years old. His courage and strength are what inspired me to do this race. If you have a moment, please read his story below, and consider donating. 100% of money raised from this race will go to A Mother’s Wish Foundation, a local non-profit who has helped Carter, and my whole family, through the most difficult of times.
In April of 2015, just before Carter turned 5 years old, we noticed he began to look and act differently. He had no energy and lost interest in playing with friends because he was too tired. His eyes were sunken and dark and he was not gaining any weight. By May, he was complaining daily about stomach aches. Thankfully, his pediatrician, Dr. Brogan, was as concerned as we were and referred us to CHOP’s hematology/oncology department for more testing.
By the fall of 2015, Carter had entered kindergarten and we still had no answers as to why our son was so sick. He was receiving weekly IV iron infusions and was sent to CHOP’s GI Department. Here we met Dr. Grossman and Dr. Conrad who performed an array of tests including an upper endoscopy, a colonoscopy, dexa-scans, video endoscopy (video capsule) and barium x-rays of his abdomen. Finally, on January 8th, 2016, Dr. Conrad called with the news that Carter had Crohn’s Disease. This diagnosis was very tough to hear as parents, but at least now we had an answer.
Since the day we received the news that our son had an incurable, life-long chronic illness, our lives changed. Carter began a medication regimen of swallowing four, sometimes five, pills a day. We made extreme changes to our diets to include only whole foods and to avoid any foods with additives or preservatives.
My son took every test, pill, long drive to CHOP, weekly iron infusion, and diet change in stride. He has learned which foods are going to help him heal and which are going to cause him to flare. Carter has shown us all what true strength and resilience is. He has kept a positive attitude through some pretty tough times. He is why I run this race.
For more information about A Mother’s Wish Foundation, please go to https://amotherswishfoundation.org/.
We have some very exciting news from one of our warriors, Emilia!! She has successfully collaborated on a book geared towards explaining Crohn’s disease to children.
