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Family Health Too Long For Twitter

My Nephew and Crohn’s Disease

Quick note: This post was long planned, but finally edited and posted becaue a remarkable woman is raising donations to help find a cure for Crohn’s Disease and Colitis. Please consider giving money as thanks for her getting her ass out there to raise funds for a charity that fights these truly terrible diseases.

You’ve heard me whine about missing my nephew since he moved away, but before that, some of you kind folk in Twitter remember that he found himself on the horrific path of Crohn’s 5 or 6 years ago, and I remain grateful for the prayers and kindnesses that buoyed us through that scary time.

Remembering his then-little body (I was still taller than him) wracked with pain to the point of near-delirium, before and after the surgery haunts me still, but his treatments have given back much of the life he could have easily lost. The picture below is him from around the last time I saw him, last summer. He is strong like bull, thanks to charities and researches fighting to give folks like him a long and far better life.

My Nephew Taking on the World, Virginia Beach, VA, 07/11/2013

We spent so many happy years with my nephew and his older brother being nearby and nearly-inseparable from my two sons from my previous marriage. And while I miss him greater than he could ever understand, I remain ever-gratified that he’s truly been thriving in his newer environment. He’s grown healthy and strong and next month he graduates from high school, already with a partial scholarship for college in the Fall!

He’s been playing football and basketball at school, and has been an avid and talented skateboarder for eons. He’s lucky that the medicine is still helping, as we’ve been told that someday it likely won’t anymore and that is a terrifying thing to contemplate. And lookit, I don’t care how small a centimeter is, when they take 11 of them out of a child, they’re huge.  I remain grateful that his body has been allowed to grow tall and strong, as he refused to embrace anything but a full life with his disease.

You can see why he’s one of my greatest inspirations, no?

And guys, he’ll turn 18 in three months, too. We had no idea if we could hope for more than a year from his first surgery, let alone the on-going treatments (*knocks on wood*). And while I wish he didn’t remember the pain back then or from ongoing episodes, I remain grateful that he is vigilant, in part from the memory that I would protect him from, if I could. 

I’m biased so this donation is a no-brainer for me, other than wanting to give far more.

But still, if you can, please get your wallets out, if not for you or someone you care about, then do it simply to pay it forward since none of us have any guarantees in life. Every little bit counts and the minimum is a mere $15.

Please?