Hundreds walk for Crohn’s Disease at Lincoln Children’s Zoo

Maybe you’ve heard of Crohn’s and Colitis, but what is it like to live with the disease?

“When I eat foods it’s really hard for me to digest them so my stomach basically attacks myself in order to try and fight those foods,” said Crohn’s patient Libby Christman.

Three years ago Christman was getting ready to go to college at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, that’s when she was diagnosed with the disease.

Crohn’s and Colitis, also know as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, is an autoimmune disease that affects a persons digestive system making it hard and even painful to process foods.

But it’s not just foods that can trigger episodes, or flares, of extreme pain.

“It tends to flair at times that are the worst because it flares when you’re stressed out, it flares when you know some big news is coming or something like that, so it’s really hard to live with,” Christman said.

Over 300 people rallied around patients like Christman Saturday morning at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo for the annual take steps for Crohn’s and Colitis.

It’s the 10th year the event has been held and this year over $52,00 was raised.

That money will be used to fund education and research to hopefully one day find a cure for the disease.

More than just a walk, the event allows patients like Christman to connect with one another and know they’re not in this fight alone.

“It’s really important to me to know that I’m being supported even though I don’t see it. Everyone here loves each other and we all have this strong bond between everyone.”