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Even pro athletes can be impacted by Crohn's

I raced bicycles at the highest level in Canada with Crohn's in the beginning of the century. Being treated with 5-ASA which did absolutely nothing, my younger self just pushed through it and normalized what I realize now is not normal.

Take-aways:
-speak up to your medical team
-you can deal with a lot if you put your mind to it
-I wonder how much further I could have gone if I had Infliximab at the time....
 
Don't forget Olympic metal winning Kathleen Baker, and Broadway Spiderman Star Jake Odemark!

Larry Nance is a fantastic role model. Everyone should listen to that podcast. He also runs Athletes v Crohns. Larry's been on Remicade and Methotrexate for over 13 yrs I believe.

And Pete Davidson...it definitely isnt slowing him down!
 
I raced bicycles at the highest level in Canada with Crohn's in the beginning of the century. Being treated with 5-ASA which did absolutely nothing, my younger self just pushed through it and normalized what I realize now is not normal.

Take-aways:
-speak up to your medical team
-you can deal with a lot if you put your mind to it
-I wonder how much further I could have gone if I had Infliximab at the time....
How are you doing these days Dan?
 
How are you doing these days Dan?
Good question. Before infliximab, I struggled with perianal abcesses, had one drained surgically on diagnosis, under local anesthetic, horrible experience, and for the next 16 years did nothing about them, let them pop spontaneously, lived with nearly constant pain down there. Also had inflammation in my small intestine and the associated pain, diarrhea etc.

Infliximab fixed my intestines and I now have a lower threshold for getting abcesses treated and have established a standing order that I'll be put to sleep to have them dealt with. Finally, after 22 years, they managed to find the end of the fistula and installed a Seton. Oh what a glorious day when I woke up to a strange blue string in my ass 😅😅😅 but those years of neglect have left quite a mess down there, a complex network of fistulae 🙄😬🤪

On the whole though, I'd say I'm doing great. It took this long to admit to myself that I have a very serious illness and I'm still figuring things out. After being such an extremely active person for so long, the transition has had its ups and downs.

Like most who are active here, I'm currently in a sort of flare up down there, but I intend to stick around and hopefully share some insights outside of the medical parts of this disease.
 
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