Thursday, December 17, 2009
David Garrard - Crohn's Disease Hero!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Athlete Drew McFedries - UFC Fighter with Crohn's Disease Wins Bout
Drew is afflicted with Crohn's disease and has spoken in many interviews about his struggle with the disorder. It has not stopped him from competing in mixed martial arts, but he does believe it has a large effect on his athletic ability. McFedries won his match last Friday (Drew McFedries threw 14 punches in his middleweight bout at UFC 98 against Xavier Foupa-Pokam.
His second punch -- a massive right hook -- was the only one McFedries needed. It took all of 37 seconds for McFedries to secure the TKO over Foupa-Pokam, who threw all of zero punches, kicks, knees, etc "I come in ready to throw down," McFedries said. )
McFedries’ influence extends far beyond fight fans and kids looking for inspiration though, and what he takes pride in is showing people with Crohn’s disease (a painful disease which attacks the intestinal tract) that you can live a normal life.
“I’ve come to the realization that pain is just part of your day,” he says simply. “Sometimes there are some embarrassing moments, but you learn to deal with it and you move on. You wake up some days and you have no energy and you definitely don’t want to move around. You don’t want to do anything, and you’re forced to train three or four more hours. Some days can be brutal for me, but other days, I’m on all cylinders man; I’m more than electric, that’s for sure.”
You sort of wonder where McFedries would be in his career right now if not for the disease, which sidelined him for over three years from 2003 to 2006. In some bizarre way, he believes it has mellowed him out and made him a more responsible and professional athlete.
“My chron's disease was a crutch because I was forced to take three years off,” he said. “I did train in that time, but I couldn’t really do much of anything because of my energy level. I’d get into the gym once a week or maybe three times a week, but that was about it. But when I got through the barrier of that, and getting the right medications and things, it changed my perspective on the fight game. I used to be a guy who could go out party until three, four in the morning, pass out, get up at eight, be at the gym at nine, train from nine to noon, take a nap, go party again, and I could do that day in and day out. We used to have so much fun, but that came to a screeching halt with the Crohn’s disease, and I think it put things in perspective. Back when I was a younger guy, I really didn’t respect or value my life. I took my body for a roller coaster ride, and what happened to me has really calmed me.”
So at 30, with the past experience that could fill volumes, Drew McFedries may be right on time to become MMA’s unlikeliest hero as he starts making some noise in the middleweight division. At the very least, he certainly has some tricks up his sleeve for the new generation of mixed martial artists.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Great Story on a High School Athlete with Crohn's Disease
There's no stammering or stuttering. There's no "I need time to think about that one" kind of statement. Hamshire-Fannett senior outfielder Jeremy Pinder and his father, Lee, remember exactly what happened Oct. 12, 2007. That's the day Pinder, now 18, was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, a life-altering stomach illness with no cure that destroys the small intestine."As a parent I broke down, it was hard," Lee Pinder said. "He'll have it for the rest of his life and the doctors said he may not able to play sports. I am a single dad and it's tough because I love my son. Still, it was amazing that six days later he was begging to play sports. It was amazing that he got sick and he never gave up."
Six days after being diagnosed Pinder played in H-F's final football game of the season.
In the nineteen months since being diagnosed, Pinder lettered in baseball, basketball, football and track and did not miss a single game during his senior season. And if you think this story can't get any better, it does.
That's because Pinder signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball at Southland Conference school Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
"Hard work gets you to where you to where you want to be," Pinder said. "It's pretty much what I've done. I've made sure everything was still OK. I don't know how to put it other than to say that it just takes hard work and dedication."
One of 140,000
Nearly 1.4 million Americans are affected by inflammatory bowel diseases and 140,000 of them are children under the age of 18, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.
Pinder became one of those 140,000 just hours after he was taken to the hospital.
During football season, Pinder started getting sick and his stomach started giving him problems.
He sat out a week and started playing again.
"The day before we played Silsbee I went to the doctor and I was supposed to have some tests for that Friday," Pinder said. "I told him that I have a football game and that I couldn't let down my team."
Twenty-four hours later, he knew something was up. After all, this was a guy who was flying around a football field making catches and blocking cornerbacks.
Now, he could barely walk around his home because the stomach pain was so great.
"The day I went to the doctor's office before I found out I had it, I weighed around 175 pounds," he said. "And that Sunday, when they told me I had Crohn's, they told me that I had lost 12 to 15 pounds. That came as a shock to me because I didn't realize that it had happened."
Road to Recovery
It's a simple routine for Pinder these days.
Wake up. Go to school. Take eight pills a day for the rest of his life. Go to practice. Go home and eat a dinner that's a far cry from what he was eating two or three years ago.
"He's probably more selective in what he eats," said Dr. Joseph Holland, of the Southeast Texas Gastroenology Associates in Beaumont. "With most people it affects primarily their small intestine and that is important for absorption especially when it comes to food and so forth."
While getting adjusted to that routine, Pinder found time to travel south to a baseball showcase at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
It was at the showcase where he impressed the team's coaching staff.
"Those coaches said he ran fastest time in 60-yard dash they ever saw. They were really interested," Lee Pinder recalled. "Lamar called him right after they saw him talking to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after a game at Vincent-Beck Stadium and offered him a red shirt season next year."
Pinder said he chose A&M-Corpus Christi because he liked the coaching staff and its laid back way of life reminded him of home. Pinder said he told the coaches about his condition and they respected him for his honesty. But before he goes south, he wants to help H-F, which placed second in District 21-3A, go far in the playoffs.
"You can't let things get you down and stay positive at all times. At first, I was scared because I thought I wouldn't be able to play any more sports," Pinder said. "But I have been keeping my body healthy and have stayed positive about everything. You can't let your dream's go to waste."
*********************
Hamshire-Fannett senior Jeremy Pinder has excelled at baseball well enough to earn a scholarship to play next season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi despite the rigors of living with Crohn's Disease, a life-altering stomach illness with no cure that destroys the small intestine.
A list of professional athletes with Crohn's and other inflammatory bowel diseases:
u David Garrard, quarterback, Jacksonville Jaguars
u Theoren Fleury, retired hockey player who played with the Calgary Flames
u Kevin Dineen, retired hockey player who played 18 years in the National Hockey League
u Shayne Corson, retired hockey player who played 15 years in the NHL
u Al Geiberger, professional golfer who won the 1966 PGA Championship
u Chris Gedney, retired tight end who played with the Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears
u Steve Redgrave, won five consecutive Olympic gold medals for rowing
u Rolf Benirschke, retired kicker who played for the San Diego Chargers
u George Steele, retired wrestler
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Obby Khan - Candian Football League Star with Crohn's
WINNIPEG - Ibrahim (Obby) Khan, a grown man of 27 who has played professional football for five years, can't describe the sheer joy he experienced last winter, when he dug into his first cheese pizza. Or when he dove into a bowl of Doritos.
"It was simply awesome," the Winnipeg offensive-lineman said this week. "Now I eat them all the time - four or five days a week."
Ah, the staples of a healthy diet.
But Khan can be excused for his indulgences. There was a time last year when his diet consisted of boiled rice and salmon exclusively. He couldn't eat fried, fatty or spicy food, chocolate, sweets or anything with seasoning. He couldn't eat fruits or vegetables. He had to take 50 pills daily and had nearly as many trips to the bathroom. There was a time he received daily morphine injections, directly into his heart, to ease the stomach pain he felt 24/7. He saw his weight fluctuate nearly 100 pounds.
"It's tough to explain," he said. "Take the worst aches, cramps and gas. Magnify it by 10 and then amplify that 24/7."
Khan was diagnosed with Chron's disease five years ago. The autoimmune condition can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to anus. Its main symptoms are pain, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting and weight loss or gain.
Khan continued playing through it - he broke into the CFL with Ottawa in 2004 before joining the Blue Bombers two years later in a dispersal draft after the Renegades folded - for more than three years, taking medication that kept the disease in remission.
But things began to change last season, forcing the 6-foot-3 centre to miss 10 regular-season games, along with the Bombers' post-season run to the Grey Cup final. He took medicinal steroids, anti-inflammatory and anti-diarrhea pills. There was a pill to curb his nausea. He tried yoga, chiropractic treatments, even acupuncture. He underwent chemotherapy for six weeks after developing a virus he caught from taking all the medication. He was taking eight Percozets daily for back pain before advancing to morphine. This once healthy 300 pounder was now a shadow of himself, weighing about 205.
"I had serious cramping and bleeding,"he explained. "And the urges to go to the bathroom - there were two or three months I couldn't leave my apartment. There was a time I almost slept in the bathroom."
He has a 13- or 14-inch scar - it took 40 stitches to close the wound - he proudly displays, like a badge of honour, from the surgery he underwent to remove his large intestine, and another smaller incision from the removal of the colostomy bag. Khan said he endured three weeks of hell following the surgery.
"My whole body - I couldn't sit up. It was tough walking, coughing and breathing," he explained. "Even taking a deep breath hurt."
Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard had a foot removed from his large intestine. But Khan is the first pro athlete to have it entirely expunged and return to his career - ahead of schedule, we might add. He started practising in June and returned two weeks ago, against Calgary. It marked Khan's first game since the regular-season finale in 2007. He received a standing ovation from the crowd at Canad Inns Stadium when he was introduced, although he didn't start. He now weighs about 290 pounds.
"He's coming along, and his health's about 100 per cent," Winnipeg head coach Doug Berry said. "He's got to improve his game. We'll keep working him in, but he's not ready to play an entire game at centre. I just don't know if he'd last in this heat.
"He's a good athlete. He's tough and a motivational leader. We want him back."
Khan's diet must remain regulated, and there are still many things he can,t eat, including some fruits and vegetables. He hasn't enjoyed a salad in two years.
"I've learned I can get through anything," he said. "If you have heart, support, determination and desire, you can do anything. I've been through hell. Whatever else can happen, bring it on. I can take on anything."
Friday, October 26, 2007
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
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