A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness called Crohn's Disease. It was a horrible experience. I spent a month in the hospital drugged up on steroids with feeding tubes in my arms. At first, there was even some question as to whether or not I'd even make it out of the hospital. Thankfully, and only by the mercy and grace of God, I did eventually recover and now I am in remission. The drugs I was given interacted with my immune system effectively and have proven to be quite successful in my treatment. I am much luckier than many people who have been diagnosed with the same disease. Some never recover from the debilitating aspects of the illness requiring major surgeries such as the complete removal of their intestines. Others have even died from the disease. I don't know why God chose to show me mercy, but I'm thankful that He did. I still deal with many side effects from the disease such as depression, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and others, but I still consider myself lucky compared to others.

For a good understanding of what exactly Crohn's Disease is, click here. It can never be cured, but it can go into remission. Hopefully, mine will stay that way, but it rarely does in most cases.

Recently, there has been some minor awareness related to the disease due to the number of celebrities that have come out and said that they have also struggled with it. One of these is Pearl Jam guitarist, Mike McCready. Although I really don't like Pearl Jam at all anymore (in my opinion their album "Ten" was their only good one and a masterpiece as well), I've always thought he was a good guitarist and I am impressed with his continued campaign to raise awareness about the disease. The website, Crohn's And Me, has even interviewed Mike about his struggle. I highly recommend reading it if you are at all interested in finding out more. You can read it here.

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