A New David Garrard Crohn's Disease Article

From thetelegraph.com

When David Garrard was 5 years old, he fell in love with football. After watching older brother Quincy practice with his team, David knew that’s what he wanted to do when he grew up.

Garrard became a star quarterback for Southern Durham (N.C.) High School, and earned a scholarship to East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

While at ECU, he led the Pirates to consecutive bowl berths, including the memorable GMAC Bowl in 2001.

The Pirates blew a 38-8 halftime lead over Marshall, and its quarterback Byron Leftwich. The Thundering Herd stormed back for a 64-61 double-overtime victory – still the highest scoring bowl game in NCAA history.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Garrard in the fourth round of the NFL draft, his childhood dream had become a reality.

He was the No. 3 quarterback, behind incumbent starter Mark Brunell and his GMAC Bowl game nemesis, Leftwich.

Garrard played in just six games during his first two seasons. Then in the spring of 2004, his NFL career nearly came to an abrupt end.

Garrard had been complaining of stomach pains, but figured it was just an upset stomach. When the pain persisted, he saw the team doctor.

The diagnosis he received was an unexpected one.

Garrard had Crohn’s Disease, an ailment he didn’t fully understand.

"A lot of times it takes an individual many years to figure out what it is," Garrard said. "If you’re not having true signs or symptoms you can kind of write it off as irritable bowel. Luckily for me, I was able to get treatment right away."

Crohn’s disease is a form of inflammatory bowel disease, which involves chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract because of an overactive immune system. It’s an often-misdiagnosed disease, and if left untreated can become fatal, as the body doesn’t get the nutrients it needs to function.

Garrard approached his battle against Crohn’s like any other opponent.

"I wanted to defeat it," he said. "I couldn’t let Crohn’s take over my life. A lot of pro athletes think they’re invincible. This brought me back to reality. It gave me a gut check, literally."

His family was also confused, and began researching the illness immediately.

"They were very shocked and concerned because I’ve always had a clean bill of health," Garrard said. "Then I get diagnosed with Crohn’s, a disease they had never heard of. They tried to figure out everything they could do, research-wise."

Garrard, his two older brothers, Anthony and Quincy, and their younger sister, Adrian, had lost their mother to breast cancer in 1992, and were not going to let this disease take another member of their family.

Along with Garrard’s wife, Mary, his siblings found spiritual treatments, holistic treatments and all natural herbs as remedies for their brother.

"They were like, ‘We’re going to throw as many things at this that we can,’" Garrard said. "Maybe there’s something out there than can work. To already have lost one family member as important as our mother was, they just didn’t want to go through that again."

Garrard had a painful flare-up in April of 2004, and noticed blood in his stool. He required surgery to remove some of his intestines, which were blocked because of scar tissue.

"It can be very painful, especially in a full-blown flare-up," Garrard said. "Nothing passes through. You’re not able to get nutrients, and have to get a feeding tube. With that scarring, it’s hard for it to be removed without surgery. Some people have to resort to colostomy bags if it gets too bad."

Since his diagnosis, Garrard has become a spokesman for the battle against the painful disease, and the drug company Centocor began donating $10,000 for every Garrard touchdown last season. Centocor is the manufacturer of Remicade, the medication Garrard said has kept him symptom-free since 2004.

Garrard has six touchdowns this season following 17 a year ago. To date, Centocor has donated $230,000 through Garrard’s "In the Zone for Crohn’s" foundation to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation (CCFA).

"We need to increase that, and keep it going," said Garrard, whose Jaguars play host to the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. "Hopefully we can get a cure to this disease. It affects a lot of kids, and the kids are the ones who are having the hardest time because in school, they have to deal with a lot. Other kids don’t understand what they’re going through. I’m trying to do as much as I can."

Garrard said the stomach pain associated with Crohn’s is much worse than anything he’s felt on the football field.

"It’s not like aches and pains of a football game," the eight-year veteran said. "Those I can deal with. The Crohn’s pain is definitely tough."

Garrard has also taken an active role in raising awareness of the disease, educating the public, and increasing funding to find a cure. He has traveled across the country, visiting Camp Oasis regional camps for children with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He has also started a local chapter of the CCFA in Jacksonville.

Garrard saw action in just four games in the 2004 season, but considers himself fortunate that his flare-up occurred in the offseason. He said the disease drained him of his energy because his body wasn’t utilizing the food he had eaten.

When the Jaguars decided to name Garrard as the starting quarterback before the 2007 season, it raised some eyebrows.

Leftwich had been the team’s No. 1 quarterback since the end of the 2003 season, and remained as such entering 2006.

But when Leftwich went down with an ankle injury in week six of that year, Garrard took over. He was not flashy, but efficient in guiding the Jaguars to a 5-5 split the rest of the year.

Then came 2007, when Garrard threw an NFL-low three interceptions, was third in pass efficiency, and the Jaguars went 11-5 to earn a playoff berth.

Garrard missed four games that season with an ankle injury, but came back in 2008 to start all 16 games. He became just the second Jaguars quarterback to start all 16 games in a season. The Jaguars saw their wins dip from 11 to five, but Garrard said being on the field for every game allowed him to prove his durability.

"It actually felt good because I had heard that no Jaguar quarterback other than Mark Brunell had ever started all 16 games," Garrard said. "I’ve never really been a guy who’s had a lot of injuries, and I wanted to show that I can go through all 16 games, and lead the team. But I’d take a few games off for a winning season."

The Jaguars are in the same position they were a season ago, sitting at 2-3 after five games. They beat Denver in week six of the 2008 season, and will try to even their record Sunday against St. Louis. What Garrard hopes to avoid this year is the tailspin that sent them to a 2-8 finish last season.

"I wish I could put a finger on what happened," Garrard said of last season. "We just didn’t play as well as we could, and our record showed it."

Coming off what Garrard called an "ugly" 41-0 loss to Seattle, the Jaguars now prepare for the winless Rams. He said it’s business as usual.

"It’s just like any other work week," Garrard said. "It’s the NFL. You’re not going to dominate a team, and you have to be prepared. No team wasn’t to be another team’s first win. Every team is going to fight you tooth and nail to the end. We have to show up prepared and execute our game plan."

Sunday’s start will be the 22nd consecutive for Garrard, whose career nearly ended before it ever really began.

Keywords: NFL quarterback with Crohn's Disease, NFL players with Crohn's Disease, David Garrard Crohns, David Garard Crohn's, chrones, crones, cronhs

David Garrard - In the Zone for Crohn's Disease

Centocor and David Garrard, quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars will continue the In the Zone for Crohn's program this football season to raise awareness and provide funding for Crohn's disease research, education and support. Last year, In the Zone for Crohn's raised $170,000 for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.

Centocor Ortho Biotech will again make a donation of $10,000 to the CCFA for each touchdown Garrard scores, passing or rushing, during the 2009 NFL season.

"I feel fortunate to be able to bring even greater awareness to this often misunderstood condition," said David Garrard, quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars. "Through my play on the field and by speaking out on my condition, I hope to continue to further educate the public and be an example to others who are living with Crohn's disease."

The program will kick off with the Jaguars' first game of the season on September 13 and will culminate at the end of the 2009 season. A contribution will be donated to the CCFA based on Garrard's total touchdown performance. The In the Zone for Crohn's program kicked off during the 2008 season. By the end of the season, Garrard helped raise $170,000 for the CCFA through his play on the field.

What other Crohn's Disease sufferer has done this? David Garrard scored nearly 50 touchdowns over the past three seasons for the Jaguars. David Garrard is entering his third season as their full-time starting quarterback.

About David Garrard
David Garrard knows first hand the painful, debilitating and often embarrassing effects of Crohn's disease. Prior to the 2004 football season, Garrard began experiencing the excruciating symptoms associated with the disease, lost a significant amount of weight and missed several weeks of pre-season training. Following his diagnosis, David underwent surgery and, in consultation with his doctor, began a treatment regimen. David returned to the playing field by the start of the 2004 season and in 2007 led the team to its first playoff win in eight years.



About Crohn's Disease
Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, affects approximately 500,000 Americans, including approximately 100,000 pediatric patients. The cause of Crohn's disease is not known, but the disease is associated with an abnormality of the immune system that could be triggered by viral or bacterial infections, a genetic predisposition or diet. Symptoms of Crohn's disease can vary but often include abdominal pain and tenderness, frequent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, weight loss and fever. For those that ask is there a cure for crohn's disease, There is currently no cure for Crohn's disease.

David Garrard Crohn's Disease Commercial

As most of my loyal blog readers know, I have written several articles about Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard and his battle with Crohn's Disease. Below is a video highlighting David Garrard's experiences of living with Crohn's Disease. It is basically a commercial for the CCFA, Centocor and Crohnsinthezone.com which is run by livingwithcrohnsdisease.com. Click Play below to view the David Garrard Crohn's Disease Commerical:



NFL Quarterback David Garrard - Overcoming Crohn's Disease - The most amazing bloopers are here

David Garrard Story I found Detailing His Crohn's, Surgery and Remicade

(From December 2005)

A vertical scar begins just below David Garrard's navel. He can see it when he lifts up his shirt, when he gets in and out of his Jaguars uniform, when he prepares for bed.

"It's not that bad," Garrard, Jacksonville's new starting quarterback, said Tuesday at Alltel Stadium. "I've seen people with scars all over their stomach. Mine is just about three inches."
Garrard's blemish is a reminder of the Crohn's disease he has fought for two years and of how he is approaching the biggest start of his pro career on Sunday, when the Jaguars (9-3) are host to the undefeated Indianapolis Colts (12-0).

"Even keel," said Garrard, 27, who will make his second consecutive start since Byron Leftwich broke his left ankle Nov. 27. "We're out here playing a game that can be taken away at any time. With me, that almost happened."

If the Colts' Peyton Manning is the best-known quarterback in the N.F.L., Garrard may be its least known, although he faced Manning in his only start as a rookie in 2002. (The Jaguars lost, 20-13.)

Garrard, who was born in East Orange, N.J., and grew up in Durham, N.C., is remembered primarily for being the East Carolina quarterback in a 64-61 double-overtime loss to Leftwich's Marshall team in the GMAC Bowl in 2001.

More than Garrard's ability to escape pressure and make plays with his feet, having Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammation of the intestines, has earned him respect, affection and trust in the Jaguars' locker room.

In January 2004, Garrard began to have severe stomachaches after meals. The pain would subside and reappear, including once when he and his wife, Mary, visited Jaguars tight end Kyle Brady and his wife, Kristi, in St. Augustine, Fla.

"In the off-season one weekend, we went out and had a real nice meal, went back to the place, and he was throwing up all night," Brady said of Garrard on Wednesday. "We were there for some moments that were kind of down and dirty. We saw all of that happening."
Garrard described it as "the most excruciating pain that I have ever felt."
"It knocks you on your knees," he said.

Garrard's 6-foot-1, 244-pound frame began shedding weight at the onset of Crohn's, one of several inflammatory bowel diseases that affect 1.4 million Americans, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.
"I had never heard of it until he got it," Leftwich said. "We'd ask him every day: 'What is it? How do you get it?' "

[In a telephone interview on Friday, Dr. James F. Marion, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, said: "We don't understand the essential nature of the disease, which is quite frustrating for the patients and makes it difficult for doctors as well. The symptoms can be subtle or extreme."

He said the inflammation caused by Crohn's could lead to swelling and ulceration of the intestines as the body tries to heal itself. Obstruction and a narrowing of the intestines can occur, as it did with Garrard.]

"Once it starts to scar up, food has a hard time passing through," Garrard said. "It's like a four-lane highway coming into a two-lane highway and bottlenecking. And that's where you get your pain."

"I just thought I had a stomach virus," he added. "It was three months before I asked anyone to check me out."(SAME HERE SAYS SCOTT)

Garrard bottomed out at 215 pounds, his weight as a high school freshman. When a colonoscopy and other tests determined that he had Crohn's, doctors placed him on various drugs, but the sharp pains returned.

He didn't participate in several spring minicamp practices last year, but he sometimes showed up. His teammates saw a gaunt man whose head suddenly looked too big for his body.
"What he went through went beyond football," said Leftwich, leaning on crutches in the locker room. "It was something that dealt with life."

Garrard knows about life, death and divorce. His parents split up when he was 7, and his mother, Shirley Ann, died of breast cancer when he was 14. Garrard then lived with an older brother but was close to his father, Wilmer, until his death two years ago.

Then in May 2004, doctors at the Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville removed 12 inches of Garrard's intestines, entering just below his navel. The doctors prescribed yet another new drug, Remicade, to try to keep the disease in remission. Garrard began to put on weight.
"I was supposed to take six to eight weeks off, but I was back out in four or five," Garrard said.
He was able to make two starts during the 2004 season - the Jaguars split the games - and doctors monitored him as he prepared for this season.

Every eight weeks, he takes Remicade through an intravenous drip that takes three hours. In August, doctors performed another colonoscopy.
"I didn't have anything in there, any symptoms or any discoloration," Garrard said. "I was totally clean."

[Marion, the Mount Sinai professor, said: "There are other pro sports players who have Crohn's disease that do not necessarily come forward. People don't like to talk about their bowels or bleeding from the rectum. It's taboo to bring this up. But if somebody is able to get the disease under good control and get transitioned into a maintenance regimen, which it appears that David has, there is every reason to expect that they will be entirely themselves."]
It's too early to classify his style as a quarterback, but Garrard has been compared to Steve McNair and Daunte Culpepper, players who can run and throw.

Garrard preserved a victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 27 and won as a starter last Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. Coach Jack Del Rio said Garrard had stepped in with poise and "has an opportunity to play big time for us right now."
But the Jaguars know him best as the teammate who shared their locker room, disappeared, and shared their locker room again.

"I know how good he is," said Leftwich, standing near Garrard's locker.
Defensive end Paul Spicer looked in Garrard's direction.
"We see that man every day," he said. "We know what he can do. When he gets out there, watch what happens."

-Just thought it was interesting story of an athlete with Crohn's Disease - Scott

Watching David Garrard Play Football - Athlete's with Crohn's

So I am sitting here watching David Garrard play football. I love seeing anyone beat Crohn's but I have a special place in my heart for athletes with Crohn's. David is doing well as the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is a fighter on the field and is making short work of Crohn's disease. He really put the weight back on quickly and is treating his Chron's with Remicade. Watching him fight on the football field makes me proud. Also makes me want to get my neck healed so I can get back to soccer!

His story is here:
Jacksonville Jaguar Quarterback David Garrard first experienced symptoms of Crohn’s disease at the end of the NFL season, in January 2003. The diagnosis was confirmed with a colonoscopy, and Garrard began treatment. His management plan included Canasa, prednisone, and finally, Remicade. These therapies failed, and Garrard lost 35 pounds from his 6’2” frame. In June of 2004, he underwent surgery to remove about 1 foot of intestine.
After surgery, Garrard recovered quickly and regained the weight he had lost. A post-surgery examination showed that his gastrointestinal tract was free of Crohn’s. After a routine colonoscopy revealed traces of Crohn’s last year, Garrard again underwent treatment with Remicade, and as of July 2006 is Crohn’s-free.
Garrard has recently entered into a partnership with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America called Team Crohn’s. Team Crohn’s is an initiative sponsored by Centocor Inc that focuses on education about pediatric Crohn’s disease. As part of Team Crohn’s, Garrard is touring Camp Oasis locations around the country. Camp Oasis is a residential program for children with IBD. Doctors diagnosed David Garard with Crohn's disease in 2004. Despite undergoing surgery in June 2004 to remove a nearly 12-inch portion of his intestines, Garrard played during the 2004 NFL season.
Garrard's wife, Mary, gave birth to the couple's first child, a son, Justin Thomas Garrard, on September 17, 2007. Educating the public about the disease is now a priority for Garrard. "Even though a lot of people suffer from Crohn's, it's still a condition many people don't know anything about. Since telling others I have this disease, I've had people who seemed to come out of the blue, saying 'Oh, yes, I have that, too.' It's a funny disease in a funny place in an area you don't normally want to talk about over dinner." He has been so successful in building up his body that his coach recently asked him to shed ten pounds off his 250-pound physique. Garrard, who now weighs about 240 pounds and has a mere 9-percent body fat, eats a high-protein diet. That's not the way it was when he was in college, where he ate lots of junk food and had 15-percent body fat, which Garrard says is at the high end of normal for professional quarterbacks.He now stays far away from junk food and no longer has cravings for fried chicken. "I haven't had fried chicken in such a long time that I don't even have a desire for it anymore." But David still loves food. "Sticking to the right diet for me can be a bit challenging," he says, adding, "That'll always be my weakness. I'm a food connoisseur with a passion for everything from Italian to seafood." When it comes to his future, Garrard's goals are straightforward. "I'll do whatever it takes to avoid any more recurrences of Crohn's disease. I eat as healthy as possible, take my medication on schedule, and listen to my doctor. I want to be the best husband I can be and, when I have children, the best father, too."