csmooth24
04-03-2007, 12:35 PM
This lady always supports our chapter. :)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003648533_brodeur03m.html
These kids just want to be kids
By Nicole Brodeur (nbrodeur@seattletimes.com)
Seattle Times staff columnist
<!-- start photo 2002884574 box --><!-- start photo --> <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="93"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td width="89">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2004/12/16/402667700.jpg (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/)</td> <td width="10">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/Art/ui/dot_clear.gif</td> </tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="2" height="5">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/Art/ui/dot_clear.gif</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- end photo --><!-- end photo 2002884574 box --> <!-- start photo --> <!-- end photo --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td> <!-- start bglinks --> Related
Nicole Brodeur's columns via RSS (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/rss/nicolebrodeur.xml) <!-- end bglinks -->
</td></tr></tbody></table>
What you notice is how these kids never let on.
How sick they are. How much they've suffered. How their days are spent worrying about their bodies, their ability to fit in and whether their lives will ever be normal again. But for a little while at a recent Seattle Thunderbirds hockey game against the Portland Winter Hawks, this group of kids, who all have Crohn's disease or colitis, were like all the others packed into KeyArena. They banged their Thundersticks together, craned to see the fights on the ice, and giggled every time someone yelled "Portland sucks!"
It was rowdy crowds like this one that paid their way here; fans of bands including Pearl Jam who have gone to shows here and in Portland, likely unaware that every dollar of the ticket price was going to these kids.
Last fall, a Pearl Jam concert in Portland raised $325,000 for the Northwest chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (www.ccfa.org (http://www.ccfa.org/)).
"All in one night," said executive director Steve Wright, still stunned after six months.
The chapter used the money to hire an education and support manager, Rebecca Lawton, who formed a six-member Youth Committee. It organizes regular group outings such as Laser Tag or this hockey game.
This Saturday, a benefit concert at the Showbox in downtown Seattle will raise money to help send local kids with Crohn's to a summer camp in California — a trip that would otherwise cost their families $1,400 each.
The Showbox headliner is Flight to Mars, a band that includes Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, who has Crohn's.
(Tickets for the show are still available.)
"To be an adult with Crohn's disease is one thing," said McCready's wife, Ashley O'Connor. "But to be a kid and deal with the stress of the disease is another. We want to give them an outlet, a comfort, until there is a cure."
<!--AB IF="Story_Ads"--> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td align="center">
</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!--AB ENDIF="Story_Ads"--> There was plenty of comfort in the seats at the hockey game. The kids seemed happy to see familiar and empathetic faces.
Thomas Moore, 12, was diagnosed two years ago.
"It's good to know who else has it," he told me.
The group has been "so uplifting," said Thomas' father, Bill. "We're hopeful he won't have to live with it forever. But if he does, these kids can learn from each other."
There are 60,000 people in the Northwest with Crohn's or colitis, Wright says. A third of them are children — and diagnoses are up.
The diseases, chronic disorders that cause inflammation of the digestive tract, often keep kids from normal childhood routines and extracurricular activities. They feel isolated. Physically, Crohn's kids are smaller, since their troubled digestive systems make it hard to retain nutrients.
"It's a very difficult disease for them to adjust to, and this group makes it easier," said Dan Greenwood, who came with his son Matthew, 11. "And not just the kids, but the parents, also."
Lawton said there is no pressure for the kids to share. Just being together is enough.
"Sometimes they talk about their pain, or going to the doctor," she said. "But mostly they want to do something fun."
Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.
She'll run for them this summer.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003648533_brodeur03m.html
These kids just want to be kids
By Nicole Brodeur (nbrodeur@seattletimes.com)
Seattle Times staff columnist
<!-- start photo 2002884574 box --><!-- start photo --> <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="93"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td width="89">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2004/12/16/402667700.jpg (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/)</td> <td width="10">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/Art/ui/dot_clear.gif</td> </tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="2" height="5">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/Art/ui/dot_clear.gif</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- end photo --><!-- end photo 2002884574 box --> <!-- start photo --> <!-- end photo --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="200"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td> <!-- start bglinks --> Related
Nicole Brodeur's columns via RSS (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/rss/nicolebrodeur.xml) <!-- end bglinks -->
</td></tr></tbody></table>
What you notice is how these kids never let on.
How sick they are. How much they've suffered. How their days are spent worrying about their bodies, their ability to fit in and whether their lives will ever be normal again. But for a little while at a recent Seattle Thunderbirds hockey game against the Portland Winter Hawks, this group of kids, who all have Crohn's disease or colitis, were like all the others packed into KeyArena. They banged their Thundersticks together, craned to see the fights on the ice, and giggled every time someone yelled "Portland sucks!"
It was rowdy crowds like this one that paid their way here; fans of bands including Pearl Jam who have gone to shows here and in Portland, likely unaware that every dollar of the ticket price was going to these kids.
Last fall, a Pearl Jam concert in Portland raised $325,000 for the Northwest chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (www.ccfa.org (http://www.ccfa.org/)).
"All in one night," said executive director Steve Wright, still stunned after six months.
The chapter used the money to hire an education and support manager, Rebecca Lawton, who formed a six-member Youth Committee. It organizes regular group outings such as Laser Tag or this hockey game.
This Saturday, a benefit concert at the Showbox in downtown Seattle will raise money to help send local kids with Crohn's to a summer camp in California — a trip that would otherwise cost their families $1,400 each.
The Showbox headliner is Flight to Mars, a band that includes Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, who has Crohn's.
(Tickets for the show are still available.)
"To be an adult with Crohn's disease is one thing," said McCready's wife, Ashley O'Connor. "But to be a kid and deal with the stress of the disease is another. We want to give them an outlet, a comfort, until there is a cure."
<!--AB IF="Story_Ads"--> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td align="center">
</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!--AB ENDIF="Story_Ads"--> There was plenty of comfort in the seats at the hockey game. The kids seemed happy to see familiar and empathetic faces.
Thomas Moore, 12, was diagnosed two years ago.
"It's good to know who else has it," he told me.
The group has been "so uplifting," said Thomas' father, Bill. "We're hopeful he won't have to live with it forever. But if he does, these kids can learn from each other."
There are 60,000 people in the Northwest with Crohn's or colitis, Wright says. A third of them are children — and diagnoses are up.
The diseases, chronic disorders that cause inflammation of the digestive tract, often keep kids from normal childhood routines and extracurricular activities. They feel isolated. Physically, Crohn's kids are smaller, since their troubled digestive systems make it hard to retain nutrients.
"It's a very difficult disease for them to adjust to, and this group makes it easier," said Dan Greenwood, who came with his son Matthew, 11. "And not just the kids, but the parents, also."
Lawton said there is no pressure for the kids to share. Just being together is enough.
"Sometimes they talk about their pain, or going to the doctor," she said. "But mostly they want to do something fun."
Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.
She'll run for them this summer.