Good morning and happy Monday!  I am delighted to share a guest post from the lovely Julie today.  Julie looked after me when I was last in hospital for my knee which had locked again.  We got chatting as she saw I had a stoma and she told me about her husband who had just had surgery for an ileostomy himself.  We have kept in touch and Julie messaged me to tell me about the skydive she plans to do to raise money for Crohns & Colitis UK.  She asked if I would like to join her and her friend – unfortunately I am not that brave!  I did want to help her however and am asking  that everyone who can spare some money, support this lovely lady and sponsor her crazy antics!  Her sponsorship link is in the post.

Zero To Ileo In 4 Months – Think Of The Children!

The few months since October 2017, when my husband was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, have been difficult; sleepless nights, constant trips to the doctors, unexpected stays in hospital and becoming carer to him and his belly butt only being the start of the journey. The disease had quickly established itself, and because of severe flare-ups one after another leading to multiple hospital admissions, and medications being ineffective, the only options was to have emergency major surgery in January 2018. Even surgery isn’t a cure and we still have regular visits to the hospital. Our lives had changed in a relatively short time and we had to find new ways to cope.

When we first heard that the condition was genetic, we tried to find out if any of his family had the disease, perhaps looking for someone to blame for this awful state he was in. It then dawned on me that my daughters had a higher chance of getting the disease, I would hate them to have to go through the same thing and the distress it causes, but I could do nothing to help. Or could I help? I decided the only way I could help was to raise money for research in the hope that if any of my children did get UC, there would be better ways of dealing with it or even a cure.

I looked at various options to raise money and decided that I’d throw myself out of a plane, strapped to a man (hopefully muscular and handsome), and land gracefully with the help of a parachute.

I’m looking forward to it, kind of, I’m actually shitting myself (fitting as it is for ulcerative colitis) but am determined to do it. The date in September is booked, filming arranged, and I have a t shirt and money raising kit from Crohns & Colitis UK. I’ve set up a funding page, donate to Julie’s skydive, and have raised a fair amount in the first three months.

Click here to sponsor Julie’s skydive

All too often, people only think of themselves and the now, how is it going to affect me and what can I do to help myself. But when faced with uncertainty, sometimes we need to look at the future, how others are going to be affected, and what we can do now to help them have a better life.

I met Natalie in the ward on which I work, we chatted and she told me about her blog site. She told me about herself and I discovered she had IBD like my husband. I learned how she coped and was given tips on how I could help my husband. Natalie gave me her contact details and we have been in touch ever since. If I could take one good thing from this disease, it is the lovely people you get to meet, the way they share stories and information, and the support they give each other.

Please help Julie raise lots of money for CCUK – such a brave lady and a great cause which is close to both our hearts.  It was an absolute pleasure to meet Julie and the care I received from her in hospital was brilliant, her husband is lucky to have someone so caring looking after and supporting him.  If you can’t afford to sponsor, please consider sharing this post so more people can see it.  Every bit of help is much appreciated.

Please let me know in the comments below about your efforts for charity – what are you raising money for and what are you doing?  Would be lovely to help share more and more of these.