About

My name is Elise Warski Leet and I am looking for allies in my battle against Crohn’s Disease. Yes, it is a personal battle for me, but if you clicked your way to my page, you probably know it’s much bigger than that. I don’t want to just be well. I want to end it so that we can talk about this disease as something like Polio, virtually eliminated. The personal part started several years ago, when I was a sophomore at University of Iowa. I was having a good time when it snuck up on me! I liked my classes, my part-time job at University of Iowa Hospital, my social life, and a new guy in my life who later became my husband. I was hit with debilitating pain and could not stop losing weight. It was terrifying! Even though I worked at the hospital, I was a 19-year-old and had trouble getting people to take me seriously. After three months in and out of the hospital, many painful and invasive tests, even passing out at work, I finally got the diagnosis. Crohn’s Disease is an autoimmune disease that causes your immune system to attack your digestive tract when you eat. Other autoimmune diseases include Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis, which are often treated with the same drugs as used for Crohn’s. My immune system basically views any food as an invading force that must be destroyed. The results (extreme vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration, uncontrolled weight loss) are very hard to live with as a college student, a new-hire, a new wife, but it usually strikes young people. What is really important is that it does not have a cure. To keep my Crohn’s in remission, I currently have to take steroids and regularly go to the hospital for a 3-hour IV infusion of a medicine that kills my immune system and makes me vulnerable to other contagious sickness. Immediately after returning from my honeymoon, I was hospitalized for more than a week. Putting a name on it was huge, but it was only the first step. The second step involved figuring out how to live my life. How can I be as healthy as possible? How can I help the people around me understand that it is not “just stress?” I think step two will be part of my life forever. I am so lucky to have good insurance; to have lived in areas where top notch medical care is close; to work in the medical field, where my coworkers understand my condition; to have the Crohn’s Foundation cheering me on; and most of all, to have a supportive family and a wonderful husband. I have decided that a big part of my second step is staying as healthy as possible by becoming a runner… and, in the way of the universe … that leads to the third step (pun intended). How can I help all the people who don’t have the support I’ve had? How can I help get the word out to people who still don’t have a diagnosis or who have a diagnosis, but are struggling with how to live with it. How can I make sure that my children (and yours) don’t have to deal with it? I can do these things with your help. I am currently training to run my second half marathon to raise money for research. It’s my mission! It would mean the world to me if you could support my efforts by pledging on this website http://www.active.com/donate/napa12georgia/EliseLeet