Kitchener-Waterloo Gutsy Walk raises $67,000

Sunday’s rain couldn’t deter a determined group of people from walking the trails in Waterloo Park in support of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.

The annual Kitchener-Waterloo Gutsy Walk raised $67,000 to support Crohn’s and Colitis Canada’s research and advocacy work.

“Canada does have the highest rate of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in the world. We are a country deeply affected,” Crohn’s and Colitis Canada’s Coordinator of Support Programs Kaitlyn McQuaid said. “As more people are diagnosed, it means more people become aware of theses diseases and the impact it has on the everyday lives of these people.”

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are inflammatory bowel diseases that inflame the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and can disrupt the body’s ability to digest food and eliminate waste. Symptoms can include abdominal pain and cramping, severe diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and weight loss.

The cause of Crohn’s disease is not yet known, so there are no cures available.

The walk was a deeply person experience for many people, including one of this year’s community champions, 22-year-old Meghan Cymbron from Cambridge.

“I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease about three years ago,” Cymbron said. “My Crohn’s disease, by the time I was diagnosed, was actually considered a severe case. So it was complicated by multiple fistulas, which are essentially these abnormal connections that form between different parts of your body. So you can have them between your bowel – for example, your small and your large intestine, or in my case, I also had some to my abdominal wall. What this meant in my case was that I would get abscesses. So they would form this little purse of infections underneath my abdomen and that was something that often caused me to be hospitalized for many weeks at a time.”

These days, Cymbron said she is doing much better thanks to surgery and medication.

“It’s an invisible illness, so it means that on the outside we don’t always look sick,” McQuaid explained. “It’s something that you can look like a healthy person but feel very, very miserable.”

Finding support

Both Cymbron and McQuaid said finding support is key.

“My advice would be to reach out,” McQuaid said. “Come to events like Gutsy Walk, reach out to Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, and get connected with people who are affected because you’re not alone. It can feel very lonely because sometimes you’re stuck at home because you can’t leave the house and you feel miserable. You’re not alone.”

“I joined the Crohn’s and Colitis Club at Western [University] in my second year. It was just a few months after I was diagnosed. I found a lot of community in the club, and it’s been so amazing to connect with a lot of different people in the club,” Cymbron said. “And seeing the support here today, it looks like a lot of people. It’s raining, but they still came out to be part of this.”