3 young people advocate for cure to Crohn's ahead of South Florida weekend walk

According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, nearly 1 in every 100 Americans are diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.

There are two types, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and this weekend there’s an event in South Florida looking to raise money to find a cure for both.

“I just knew that my journey had gotten a lot harder and I would have to keep fighting for the rest of my life,” shares 21-year-old Carolina Parr.

Parr is a senior at the University of Miami with aspirations to go to nursing school. She looks just like any other young woman her age, but she’s battling a life-long disease.

“I was originally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when I was 10 years old,” she explains. “I was on a vacation with my family in the summer and started getting all of these symptoms, and I was really scared. I didn’t tell my parents for a really long time because I didn’t want to face the reality that something is wrong with me.”

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease of the large intestine, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, it causes open sores or ulcers to develop on the lining of your colon.

Carolina battled the autoimmune disease for years, until a colonoscopy told her she would now live a life with Crohn’s Disease.

“I lost a lot of weight initially, I couldn’t hold down any food, and I was always living in the bathroom. I was in a lot of pain, my stomach aches were awful,” explains Parr.

She furthers, “But I think mentally the symptoms were if not just as bad, worse.”

Crohn’s disease causes chronic inflammation along the entire gastrointestinal tract.

It’s something Jacob Diaz also lives with.

“It was definitely a little surreal, like at 7 years old I knew what Crohn’s was because my dad had it, but I didn’t fully understand what it was and what it entailed for my future. I kind of had to learn that on my own.”

Jacob says there were many low moments, but after lots of trial and error with different medications and diets, he’s now found something that works for him. He shares that every six to seven weeks he receives an IV infusion of a medicine called Remicade.

With it, the 17-year-old is able to live his life playing baseball, hanging out with friends, but also spends his time informing others about what the disease is.

It’s why he’s honored as one of the heroes of this year’s Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s Take Steps Charity Walk.

With a smile Jacob shares that it's “one of the nicest offers or awards you can get in this community, so like, being able to have this opportunity is really awesome.”

It’s something 12-year-old Sawyer is also excited for.

“I’d say it’s an honor,” he says.

His team Strides for Sawyer is one of many, like Jake’s Crohn’s Crushers and Caro’s Crohnies, who are looking to raise money to find a cure and show others who are suffering from this disease that they are not alone.

“It was nice to find people who have the same thing as you that know what you went through and that stuff. And all looking for the same goal,” Sawyer said.

“For the kids living with any illness but especially an invisible illness, it’s really easy to just want to throw in the towel and give up, and for the longest time that’s all I wanted to do, and there are so many days when I almost did,” Parr said.

She continues, “I want to be someone that little kids can look up too, so, if I gave up it would be letting them know it’s okay too and so I want them to keep fighting, so I kept fighting for them.”

The ‘Take Steps’ walk is April 26, and you can sign up here.