Amy

Today’s marathon is going to be run for Amy, who we sadly lost just a couple weeks ago. Hearing about Amy’s passing was shocking as much as it was saddening. My heart goes out to her family and friends who I know will miss her terribly.

I knew Amy through Team Challenge and I had the pleasure of calling Amy a friend. I know I’m just one of many that made up her large and loving TC family. She is going to be missed by so many.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to ask Amy to share her story, taking part in 26.2 For You. I know she openly shared her story and was a huge proponent of being vocal about her Crohn’s Disease. She believed in raising awareness by sharing details about what she had been through. I’m going to sharing a couple of posts made by Amy and let her tell you about what she dealt with in her own words. The first two were from 2019 when she was preparing to run the Team Challenge half marathon event in Boston. The last one is from 2014, her first TC event at the Napa to Sonoma half marathon that season.

January 2019:

It’s been 14 years this January since I’ve been sick and diagnosed with Crohn’s. It’s been a roller coaster ride with doctors, medications, tests, diets, and supplements to get me to live my life to the fullest. In 2012, I somehow found the courage to go to a Team Challenge meeting and surprisingly found the strength to sign up. I was blessed to join an amazing group of dedicated individuals who either had Crohn’s or colitis or knew someone who did and those who just want to find a support system to help them train for a half marathon. With this close team, we ran the Napa to Sonoma half marathon that summer! To this day, these wonderful people are still a part of my life, they are family.

Two years later I signed up for the Jamestown, RI, half marathon. However, due to a gastro virus and my Crohn’s I could not run. So, my friend ran it for me! I was too sick to even go and support my teammates and my friend for the race, but I was there in spirit.

The following year, I needed to redeem myself and got the courage to run in the Portland half marathon. I completed it with the biggest smile on my face, knowing that I have redeemed myself and truly taken back my life.

Since Portland four years ago, I really gained control of my Crohn’s. I have more energy, joy, and drive to do more with my life than I have in the past. I look back to where I was when I started with Team Challenge and I’m happy to see how far I’ve come because I have this family as a part of my life.  

When I was first diagnosed 14 years ago, I had lost all hope of having a ‘normal’ life again since I was stripped of my energy, joy, and drive to live. Team Challenge gave me hope. For those with digestive diseases like mine, finding hope is challenging. There are millions who suffer daily with these diseases and they need all the hope they can get.

So, I’m running another half marathon with Team Challenge. This time I’ll be running in Boston!!! My favorite city!!! On May 26th I’ll be running with my Team Challenge family at the Boston Run to Remember Half Marathon!

January 2019:

I can’t believe it was 7 years ago when I took the plunge to join Team Challenge and run my first half marathon. If it were not for the amazing group of people I training with and ran with that year and years following, who knows where I’d be or how my health would be. Team Challenge was a certainly one of the BEST decisions I’ve ever made. It’s got me back to normalcy and my health is better thus resulting in me being happier and stronger.

March 2014:

Happy Spring to all!!! Hopefully with the warmth of today, everyone is starting to thaw out from this bitter winter. For me, with the start of spring, it begins the start of my half-marathon training!!! Saturday is the official start of Team Challenges’ season!!!! This Saturday also happens to be my birthday. Nine years ago (on my birthday no less) I found out I had this disease. It was a little tough to face my birthday, but as the years when on, it somehow got easier. I started looking at my birthday as a celebration of not just another year older, but as a celebration of life!

This disease is a part of who I am, I have come to terms with that, I can’t change what is. However, it does not define me, it does not control me, it does not wear me down. Granted, some of the symptoms I deal with are no laughing matter and are sometimes quite relentless. They do take a toll at my body, but not my spirit. Years ago, I could have easily let this disease take control of my life and been bound to a bed or worse. But I dare not think of what could have been, only what is yet to be!!!

I’ve got a lot more years left in this body and I’m not going to let Crohn’s ruin that. However, the only way that I am going to have a fighting chance, is if I do more for myself and help out those that are helping me.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is the ONLY institution that is doing anything about these diseases. They are doing the research, the studies, and the education for those who are suffering, the doctors that treat them, and the supporters that are there for them.

So that’s why I run for CCFA. I run because someday there might be something out there that might help me or help some of my friends who suffer, or even find a cure for one or both of these diseases. CCFA is hope. It’s hope for supporters. It’s hope for sufferers. It’s hope for me.

Marathon #71 – Recap