On Saturday 8th June, we will be walking 10KM across London to raise money for Crohn’s & Colitis UK. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which is an umbrella term that encompasses both Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis, affects over 300,000 people in the UK. However, it is a largely hidden disease, which often causes stigma, fear and misconceptions.

IBD causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, which can also result in many other symptoms, such as joint pain, fatigue, skin problems, anaemia and other medical conditions associated with the disease.

Ulcerative Colitis is thought to be an autoimmune condition. This means that the immune system attacks healthy tissue. The most popular theory is that the immune system mistakes harmless bacteria inside the colon as a threat and attacks the tissue inside the colon, causing it to become inflamed. Exactly what causes the immune system to behave in this way is unclear. 

Therefore, your kind donations will go towards raising awareness of these lifelong diseases, improving diagnosis and treatment and will help to fund research into finding a cure.

Thank you for reading.

Love, Anna (diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis 2011) and Amber x