Who:

Adam & Dan (two UC patients)

What:

In the spirit of some friendly competition, and hopefully with the goal of getting a tiny bit stronger and raising the blood flow, I’ve been taken up on a bit of a physical challenge by a new found UC friend from the other side of the pond.  The mission is pretty simple…who can do the most PULL UPS.  That’s right, simple pull ups.  And as long as Dan’s camera is still working, which I’m sure it will be as he’s a professional photographer, we should have some youtube videos to help determine who can claim the title of ICPC (International Colitis Pull-Up Champion).  Well…of course there might be some other UC’ers who can beat both of us, but we won’t worry about that just yet.

Where:

Northern England & Northern California

When:

Training the whole month of February 2012.  With the final day of the Challenge being February 29, 2012. (Dan, your camera better be rolling that day, make sure to charge your batteries the night before buddy!)

Why:

As I hope many of you know who are living and breathing with UC, one of my main goals for quite some time has been to prove that UC is MOST DEFINITELY NOT the end of the world.  Life can, does, and will go on for all of us who happened to be diagnosed with this disease.

As many of you MAY NOT know, one of the most common emails I receive from people all over the world who use the iHaveUC website is based around a simple question.  And you may have asked yourself this very question before, perhaps even today.  The question is:  “Can I have a normal life?”.

My answer is YES.  A BIG FAT YES!

BUTT wait a minute,

not very long ago, I wasn’t so sure.  Just a few years ago I had all sorts of doubts and I was scared as hell.  Just like most people who are dealing with active colitis.  This is what I truly believed back then:

• I didn’t think I would be cranking pull ups
• I didn’t think I would be clogging toilets again with big hard poops
• I didn’t think a year would go by without needing a Gastro doctor
• AND, I surely didn’t think I would be living medication free for the MAJORITY of my post diagnosed UC life(the doctors all told me that wasn’t possible and I believed them at first)

I’m happy as hell to report that I was dead wrong on all of those bullet points above, even the one about clogging my crapper at home with a big fat hard piece of rope.

So Dan,

thank you for offering to take me up on the pull-up challenge.  I wish you the very best.(and if you happen to be a hardcore gym/workout guy…well, you just might kick my butt…)  This is a friendly competition, no dirty campaigns needed here.  And to everyone else who follows the iHaveUC site, especially to those of you who are struggling with your symptoms at the moment, HANG IN THERE!  For those of you who are sick at the moment, YOU CAN and WILL GET BETTER.  In the words of my Uncle Bennett who lived an unbelievable life with Crohn’s Disease:  “The tough times too will pass”.  I can remember him saying that to me over and over again while I called him daily from my bloody toilet back in 2008-2009.

Adam

(if you’re not on the newsletter, feel free to join us here: newsletter sign up page)

(( if you want to start a new challenge, awesome, I’m trying to think of an easy way to allow for others to do the same(thinking up the computer/web logistics etc… definitely not impossible))