Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation event on Sept. 15
From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Meydenbauer Center.
By Celeste Gracey
For the Bellevue Reporter
At 5-feet tall and only 67 pounds, 13-year-old Chris Adams was dwarfed by his classmates on the basketball court. Once a hearty boy, he had stopped growing a few years earlier when his diarrhea, nausea and pain began. Although a psychologist had been seeing him for the stomach issues, his mom knew it was something more serious, when that day he stopped dribbling midcourt and began throwing up.
A pediatric gastroenterologist diagnosed Adams with Crohn’s disease, an illness where the immune system attacks otherwise healthy tissue throughout the digestive tract. At the time, the best treatment for Adams was steroids and a gastrostomy tube (g-tube) to keep up with the lost nutrition.
While Adams is now benefiting from new medicine for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which also includes ulcerative colitis, the Bellevue resident is using his 33 years of experience with the disease to find cures and help patients on their journeys until one is found.
One major component of that help is education. Adams chairs the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Northwest chapter (CCFA), whose office has been quietly nestled on Lake Bellevue for 15 years. To better reach the Eastside, the chapter is bringing its Fall education conference to the Meydenbauer Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 15. The $10 admission includes lunch. To register or for more information, go online to https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/chapters/northwest.
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