By Bob Groeneveld/Langley Advance Times
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Clara Jacobs was diagnosed with indeterminate colitis when she was six years old.
It was “one of the worst cases the doctors had seen,” she remembers.
Now she’s 13, and she’s the Fraser Valley West honourary chair of the 2019 Gutsy Walk, a fundraising and awareness event for Crohn’s & Colitis Canada.
In the intervening years, she has been on a range of medications and seen numerous doctors.
In addition to the pain the disease causes, the symptoms she has endured have included “loss of appetite, lots of trips to the bathroom, nausea… it’s different for everyone,” she relates.
For the first four years after her diagnosis, she was one of the youngest kids in B.C. to be treated with a medication that is now commonly used for young sufferers.
But when her body started rejecting the medication, she has been switched to something new.
Now she takes the trip to Children’s Hospital every eight weeks for injections in thigh.
“It’s been working very well for me, for which I feel very grateful,” she said.
Her recovery has been “amazing” and her pain has gone.
Every year since her diagnosis, her family has accompanied her on the Gutsy Walk, and she has raised more than $50,000 for the cause.
One of a number of similar events taking place in communities across Canada this weekend, local walkers, joggers, and runners will get started at 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 2, from Fleetwood Park, 15802 80th Ave.
Clara will be “giving a little speech about Chrohn’s and colitis, and cutting the ribbon to commence the walk.”
“It’s really important to me and for my family and friends who have supported me for years,” she said. “I hope we can find a cure.”
Register and learn more at gutsywalk_BC@crohnsandcolitis.ca.
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