Crohn's Disease is an inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune disease that is currently not curable but can be kept under control with a variety of drugs.  It's an invisible disease for many but can be so very debilitating to all aspects of your life.  The Crohn's Map vaccine is a research project that is working towards a cure for Crohn's Disease.  

I was diagnosed in 2000 originally with Ulcerative Colitis (later amended to Crohn's Disease) when I was 19 years old.  I have had many ups and downs along the years, at times feeling so unbelievably ill and exhausted, suffering anxiety at just leaving the house.  I've taken a variety of different medications, some with nasty side effects but always managed to get through the worst times with the support of my family and my wonderful husband James.  After a particularly bad flare up during my second pregnancy and for the few months after the birth, I was lucky enough to find the right combination of drugs to keep me in 'remission' for the last 5 years. I know many people living with Crohn's are not that lucky, some end up having life changing surgery, some live every day with chronic pain and illness, some people never experience remission of symptoms.

Being in remission and feeling so well sometimes makes me forget that I have a chronic disease but the current lockdown and threat of Covid-19 has certainly reminded me.  I was one of the many people in the UK to receive a letter from the NHS for the 'extremely clinically vulnerable' (catchy huh?) and have been told to stay at home for 12 weeks.  Not a terrible hardship in order to stay well and help reduce the potential burden I might have on the NHS if I caught the virus, but it brought my Crohn's Disease back into the forefront of mine and my husband's' minds.

With all this time on our hands the idea of a challenge, that would not only keep us exercising during our isolation but also help raise funds for a charity close to our hearts, was born.  We are lucky enough that we have a rowing machine at home and decided it's about time it got some proper use, so James and I have decided to spend the next 10-12 weeks rowing the distance between London and Helsinki, 1495 miles.  We expect it to be tough, we will be doing it between us, with maybe a little help from our two boys, and we are really hoping we make it to the other side and raise some money for our chosen charity.

Thank you for reading my story and supporting us!