Spokane and surrounding area residents will walk for cures in the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s Northwest Chapter’s Take Steps Walk on Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. at Riverfront Park in Spokane.

Take Steps is a family-friendly community celebration dedicated to raising mission-critical funds and awareness of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two painful, debilitating digestive diseases that affect 1 in 200 Americans, including 80,000 children nationwide.

Take Steps Honored Heroes represent the Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis warriors living in our community. They share their stories to raise awareness and inspire others to join the fight against digestive diseases.  This year’s honoree is Spokane pediatric patient Nolan Stewart. 

“I lost a lot of weight over that summer and really wasn’t feeling like myself,” says Nolan, who was diagnosed in 2015, in a press release about the upcoming walk.  “After a colonoscopy and an endoscopy (or what I call an upper and a downer) they saw the inflammation in my intestines and I was officially diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.”

Thousands of people are expected to gather this year at more than 120 walk sites in local communities across the country. Take Steps Spokane has raised more than $110,000 for research and patient support services since it started in 2010 and has set a goal to raise almost $30,000 this year.

Funds raised through Take Steps are intended to help transform the lives of those impacted by these diseases, and to support the research, education, and patient support programs of Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

Organization representatives say the walks are dedicated to patients and their families and serve as a celebration for all the hard work and dedication of supportive members of the community.

Known collectively as inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis affect 1 in 200 people. They are painful, medically incurable diseases that attack the digestive system. Crohn’s disease may attack anywhere along the digestive tract, while ulcerative colitis inflames only the colon, or large intestine. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, fever, and weight loss. Many patients require numerous hospitalizations and surgery. Most people develop the diseases between the ages of 15 and 35; however the incidence is increasing in children.

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America claims to be the largest voluntary nonprofit health organization dedicated to finding cures for inflammatory bowel diseases. Its mission is to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life for sufferers. The Foundation works to fulfill its mission by funding research and providing educational resources and supportive services.