Cheshire Seventh Grader Inspires Residents To Take Steps To Fight Digestive Diseases

Cheshire, Connecticut – Jake McPhee is serving as the Youth Honored Hero for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America CT Shoreline Take Steps Walk. Jake is 13 years old. He is a 7th grader in Cheshire, CT and suffers from Crohn’s Disease.

Beginning in 2013 Jake had a series of what his mom, Nichole McPhee, thought were stomach bugs but when he couldn’t shake them and began fainting in school she knew there was something seriously wrong.

Nichole shares, “Jake lost a significant amount of weight and was down to 47 pounds at his sickest. This is what a typical 6-7 year old weighs.” Jake chimes in, “my mom called me Casper.” Jake was severely anemic so his skin had a very pale white tone. Needless to say, Jake and his family were scared. Jake was reassured when his doctor told him, she was going to find the best doctors to help him figure this all out and get him well. After a series of blood work, a colonoscopy, endoscopy and finally an MRI, Jake received his diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease in April 2014.

In the last year and a half, Jake has been on a lot of different medications; one of them a steroid, which made him “The Hulk” hungry, as he describes it, and for the first time in a longtime, Jake could eat without throwing up. Jake finally gained weight and even grew an inch.

While the steroids helped they did not put the disease in remission. After his third flair in less than 9 months, Jake’s GI doctor wanted him to try Remicade, which is an infusion he receives at the hospital every 8 weeks. Jake was scared but came to realize, “it’s actually pretty easy” and according to him, the best part is he gets to miss school.

Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis is a family-friendly community walk dedicated to raising awareness and mission-critical funds for cures for digestive diseases.

The Shoreline Take Steps Walk is Saturday, October 24 at Hammonassett State Park in Madison. Registration and the festival start at 9:00 a.m. and the walk is at 10:15 a.m.

Jake walks, as he states, in the hopes he will “help other kids not feel so scared, like I was. I want people to know that you can have Crohn’s and still live a good, fun life even if you are sick.” Jake’s goal is to raise $3000. Jake and his team, #JakesWarriors, will be hosting two fundraisers in the coming weeks.

The first is a tag sale and bake sale on Saturday, September 19, 9:00-1:00, at 141 North Brooksvale Road in Cheshire (site of the former Scooter School). The second fundraiser is a can and bottle drive on Sat., Sep. 26 from 8am-12pm at the Cheshire Stop & Shop, 275 Highland Ave. They will also collect cans and bottles at their tag sale! For those who can’t attend one of the fundraisers but would still like to support Jake’s efforts, donation can be made through the Take Steps website, http://online.ccfa.org/goto/JakeMcPhee

The Shoreline Take Steps Walk is sponsored by AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Shire. For more information on how to get involved with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America Shoreline Take Steps Walk please visit www.cctakesteps.org/ctshoreline or contact Mary Kate Doherty at 203-376-4336 or mkdoherty@ccfa.org.

About Take Steps
Take Steps is the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s national walk program. These walks raise funds for critical research and increase awareness of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, painful and unpredictable digestive diseases. Thousands of people will gather this year at 140 Take Steps walks nationwide to join the fight against Crohn’s and colitis. The walks are family friendly festivals with activities for everyone including games, music, and great food. Funds raised through Take Steps will help transform the lives of those impacted by these diseases, and support CCFA’s critical research, education, and patient support programs. Walk with us today: get started at www.cctakesteps.org. Take Steps is supported in 2015 by Abbvie, our platinum sponsor.

About Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are painful, medically incurable illnesses that attack the digestive system. Crohn’s disease may attack anywhere from the mouth to the anus, while ulcerative colitis inflames only the large intestine (colon). Symptoms may include abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, fever and weight loss. Many patients require hospitalization and surgery. These illnesses can cause severe complications, including colon cancer in patients with long-term disease. Some 1.6 million American adults and children suffer from Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, with as many as 80,000 under the age of 18. Most people develop the diseases between the ages of 15 and 35.

About the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America
The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) is the largest voluntary non-profit health organization dedicated to finding cures for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). CCFA’s mission is to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults who suffer from these diseases. The Foundation works to fulfill its mission by funding research, providing educational resources for patients and their families, medical professionals, and the public, and furnishing supportive services for those afflicted with IBD. For more information, visit www.ccfa.org, call 888-694-8872, join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ccfafb and www.facebook.com/ccfatakesteps, or follow CCFA and Take Steps on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ccfa and www.twitter.com/takesteps.