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The Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society (IDEAS) is a patient-focused not-for-profit organization. Our programs support children, youth and young adults living with intestinal diseases. Our education and awareness campaigns educate the public about intestinal diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis and the issues people living with these terrible illnesses deal with every day.
Children and youth are the core of IDEAS work. IDEAS provides opportunities and funds to help kids with IBD and other intestinal diseases access summer camp programs to develop life and leadership skills. Many kids affected by IBD feel isolated and stigmatized–a week at camp with other children facing similar challenges helps kids to feel less-isolated and empowered to live a full and rewarding life despite their illnesses. Because of the considerable medical costs families with children suffering from IBD face, the financial support of IDEAS to identify these kids in the community and help them travel to camps, many of which are outside of their hometowns, is crucial.
One such youth is 16-year-old Clinton of Squamish, BC. Clinton became involved with IDEAS through our founder Robert Hill. While Clinton was really sick, he watched Rob demonstrate how IBD doesn’t stop him. Now healthy enough to regain his active lifestyle, in part due to advances in IBD treatment by Abbott, Clinton is determined to demonstrate to others how IBD doesn’t stop him. In September 2009, Clinton traveled to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro as part of the IBD Adventures trek. In April 2010, Clinton will join the IBD Adventures team heading to Mount Everest Base Camp. Through these adventures, Clinton’s natural leadership abilities have flourished. IDEAS is proud to play a small role in Clinton’s transformation from patient to IBD advocate.
In 2010, IDEAS will:
- Send children suffering from IBD to summer camp
- Provide funds for youth suffering from IBD to complete Counselor-in-Training programs
- Provide major grant funding for research to find a cure for IBD
- Conduct patient education days in partnership with childrens’ hospitals
- Promote IBD and ostomy awareness campaigns like No Guts Know Glory, IBD Adventures and Uncover Ostomy
Please support the important work of IDEAS by making a donation through Canada Helps. You will receive an income tax receipt for all donations greater than $20.
The No Guts Know Glory Everest Expedition and the IBD Adventures Everest Base Camp Trek are made possible by the generous support of Abbott Laboratories and ConvaTec. Their financial contributions will help put the teams on the ground in Nepal in late March 2010. Your donations will help IDEAS send kids to summer camp, fund research for an IBD cure and end the social stigma of living with an intestinal disease through ongoing education and awareness.
For more information and to contact the IDEAS office, send an e-mail to info @ weneedideas.com or phone 604 568 8499.
Checks can be mailed to:
Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society (IDEAS)
#521 119 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC, V5L 2N4
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Robert Peterson
I was so encouraged to hear about what this climbing group did in the name of helping those with Crohn’s Disease and other intestinal diseases. My brother, Malio Silvestrone, died three years ago after suffering with Crohn’s Disease for thirty-eight years. He bravely battled the disease until his kidneys failed and he had to go on kidney dialysis for the last four years of his life. At the time he contracted the disease in 1970, it was difficult to diagnose and because of this, the doctors did not discover what it was until ten years later. Unfortunately by that time the disease had spread throughout his intestinal tract. He had a very difficult life living with Crohn’s but, as I heard Rob Hill say on Global News this morning, his life was much more than just the disease he battled against. I am very proud of him and all that he accomplished in his life even though he suffered so much. Thank you all for what you are doing to alleviate this terrible disease and help those who are living with it today. I wish Mal had gotten to meet your team of climbers, but I am glad that the research and fight against Crohn’s is progressively working towards a cure for the disease and that so many people with it are benefiting from these treatments.
Keep up the fight!
Jeannine Silvestrone