Tuesday, March 31, 2015

March 31: Oh Happy Day!


Ok, today is a very special day. Which is why I am going to redirect your attention to my "other" blog. Click here to find out why you should be stamping that envelope and sending my birthday card off in the mail today.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Winning the Wrong Lottery

Hello World,

So March has brought with it two unexpected things, but I'll start with the positive. Katie's Crew is growing larger every day and I have FIVE family members running in my honor for Team Challenge at the Napa Valley Half Marathon in July!! Cheryl Boccard, Mary Boccard, Jo-Ann Orelli-Lange, Donna Orelli-Bellantone and Regina Orelli: you guys are my heroes. Together, they will get us 66 miles and more than $18,000 closer to a cure for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Every donation, and especially every member that joins Katie's Crew, not only gives me the hope I so need that I will someday be able to live a "normal" life, but gives this same hope to the 1.4 million other Americans and their families who are also suffering. And that is a very cool thing.

I have also been asked to serve as the Team Challenge Honored Hero for the Napa Valley and Portland, ME Half Marathons this season and I am extremely honored to serve this position again. I have very much enjoyed kicking off this season with a few speaking engagements, getting my story out there and hoping that it will inspire others to make a difference in the lives of those suffering from IBD.

The other thing that March has brought with it is a recurrence of my nasty peritoneal inclusion cyst. I'm not quite sure what to say on this front. Maybe I'd like to say that I have never won a scratch-off, raffle or prize in my life, but I seem to be winning the wrong kind of lottery all the time. The cyst's extremely quick recurrence has been life-altering, to say the least. Knowing that I have to live with this new chronic issue has introduced major question marks into many aspects of my life, from confronting the very real possibility that my health will be too much of a hurdle in regard to my current path to a degree in medicine to questioning the viability of my independence as a mother. While I am incredibly lucky to be surrounded by the strongest support system known to man, I would like more than anything else to be able to independently care for my daughter and myself. Staying positive has never been a very difficult task for me, but this time around it feels daunting. Eh, C'est la vie.

I suppose only time will tell what I will or will not be able to do in this very precious life, and there is one thing I can tell you for sure. This is the best medicine on the planet (and without this, I have no idea where I would find those deep breaths and big smiles that I so desperately need):



Friday, March 6, 2015

So Honored to Honor My Hero!!!

Friends!

I am sincerely honored to announce that my husband and I have been selected to be on the committee for CCFA Long Island Chapter's largest fundraising event of the year: Laugh 'Til It Stops Hurting. This year, we will be honoring my surgeon, Dr. John Procaccino, and I am hoping my readers, friends, supporters and family can help us make this event another great success.

Some of you I will be bothering with formal invitations, but as I feel like I am always bugging my steadfast supporters, I decided to reach out to most of you in a more passive way (read: this blog). There are so many ways you can support this event, from a $5 donation, to purchasing a ticket, to asking your employer to consider becoming a sponsor. Regardless, please read the letter attachment that will be sent along with invitations and know that every last one of you is very welcome (and strongly encouraged) to attend the event. Hope to see some of you there, and for those of you that can't attend I hope you will consider supporting the event in some way, big or small. An enormous thank you as always!! Please find link for more information in the letter below:



Dear Friends,

As you know, my family and I have been actively involved with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Long Island chapter for many years, participating in a wide range of activities to help fulfill CCFA's mission of a cure for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.  

This year, my husband William and I are privileged to serve on the committee for Laugh 'til It Stops Hurting, the chapter's most critical fundraising event. We will be honoring my surgeon, Dr. John A. Procaccino, at this year's event. As most of you know, Dr. Procaccino has been by my side for many years as one of my greatest allies in my battle against this disease. We have been through four major surgeries together: while some of these surgeries have provided me with the best possible quality of life an IBD patient could hope for, one emergency surgery quite literally saved my life. Without Dr. Procaccino's unparalleled aptitude and surgical skill, I would not be here today writing this letter to you. And as a brief testament to Dr. Procaccino's character, I don't think I have to tell you there aren't too many world-renowned surgeons out there that would sneak away from his or her family on Thanksgiving Day just to check up on you in the hospital. He is, quite truly, one of a kind.

Thank you, in advance for any support you can give to this event. My family and I will be enthusiastically attending Laugh 'til It Stops Hurting, and we hope you can too.  If you cannot make the event, there are many other options for support, from sponsorships to journal ads and donations.  Everything you need is included in this invitation package as well as on the event website: http://online.ccfa.org/laugh_2015 

Over 80 cents of every dollar raised goes to CCFA's mission for a cure, while improving the quality of life for patients like myself and providing education and support services. Nothing is more important to me than to see an end to these insidious diseases. I hope you will continue to join us as we progress toward a cure. 

With Deep Gratitude,


Katherine Pearce