Miguel

Please see Mike’s story. Miguel is Mike’s dad and his story is intertwined with his son Mike’s who I ran for yesterday. As Mike talked about, often IBD doesn’t just affect one person in a family, it’s seen in others throughout a family tree and in a lot of circumstances it’s seen in parents as well as their children.

According to the Crohn’s and colitis foundations website: recent research suggests hereditary, genetic and environmental factors contribute to Crohn’s disease development. Studies have shown that between 5% and 20% of people with IBD have a first degree relative, such as a parent, child, or sibling, who also has one of the diseases. The genetic risk with Crohn’s disease is greater than ulcerative colitis.

So, stories like Miguel and Mike are not that uncommon at all.

Miguel passed away from pancreatic cancer six years ago. The plan was to run a marathon for Mike but after hearing his story and seeing how his dad also suffered, I felt it was only fitting to run 26.2 for his dad as well.

Marathon #84 – Recap