Famous Persons With UC/Crohn's Disease

My favorite IBD celebrity is Ogden Nash. I couldn't find any of his poems that seemed related to his Crohn's Disease, but at least the following mentions the bathroom:

The people upstairs all practise ballet
Their living room is a bowling alley
Their bedroom is full of conducted tours.
Their radio is louder than yours,
They celebrate week-ends all the week.
When they take a shower, your ceilings leak.
They try to get their parties to mix
By supplying their guests with Pogo sticks,
And when their fun at last abates,
They go to the bathroom on roller skates.
I would love the people upstairs wondrous
If instead of above us, they just lived under us.

This thread would be remiss without mentioning former NFL Kicker Rolf Benirschke, who played his entire NFL career with ulcerative colitis and a K Pouch after the 1979 NFL season.  Rolf is the national spokesperson for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Benirschke

Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.  Quarter back John Elway's ex wife Janet Elway ( she's remarried now)

How about Tony Snow, George W. Bush's press secretary? He died of colon cancer a few years after colectomy. So sad. Jan

John F. Kennedy, Amy Brenneman, Marvin Bush are a few I know off the top of my head. Oh and I think a contestant on last season's American Idol, Casey Abrams too.  

As far as I know JFK had Addison's Disease rather than IBD. OTOH he sure had to take plenty of steroids.

Another person with IBD who might be inspirational (especially to those living in the Boston area) is former NHL player Derek Sanderson, a member of the Boston Bruins 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup Champions, and at one time the highest paid professional athlete in the world when he signed a $2.6 million contract with the Philadelphia Blazers of the WHL in 1973.  I read Sanderson's book "Crossing The Line" and although he discusses his ulcerative colitis and the hip surgeries he had to have from taking too much Prednisone to control the UC, which helped end his NHL career, they are actually a minor part of the book.  Sanderson was a major substance abuser (mostly alcohol and cocaine) and womanizer, and he discusses all of this in his book and how it got out of control causing a downward spiral of poor conditioning and injuries to the point where he was washed up and out of pro hockey at age 31.  The book also talks about how he stopped abusing in 1980 and has been clean ever since, the wakeup call having been the loss of playing the sport he loved. It is an unusually honest, self-critical and candid look at bad choices by a former pro athlete. Here is a link to his book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Crossing...iginal/dp/1600789242

David Garrard, former NFL QB

Shannon Doherty- actress

 

Crohns Disease

I saw a documentary on TV last year that said it was believed that he had UC and other auto immune issues. They showed pics of him in his youth and he was terribly skinny.

John F. Kennedy had symptoms that may have been IBD, autoimmune disorder, two diagnosed endocrine disorders, and myriad other health problems that likely made him, despite his youth during the years of his Presidency, the most unhealthy sitting US President ever. This from his wiki:

 

"In 2002 Robert Dallek wrote an extensive history of Kennedy's health. Dallek was able to consult a collection of Kennedy-associated papers from the years 1955-1963 including x-rays and prescription records from the files of White House physician Dr. Janet Travell. According to Travell's records, during his Presidential years Kennedy suffered from: high fevers, stomach, colon, and prostate issues, abscesses, high cholesterol, and adrenal problems. Travell kept a "Medicine Administration Record," cataloguing Kennedy's medications: "injected and ingested corticosteroids for his adrenal insufficiency; procaine shots and ultrasound treatments and hot packs for his back; Lomotil, Metamucil, paregoric, phenobarbital, testosterone, and trasentine to control his diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and weight loss; penicillin and other antibiotics for his urinary-tract infections and an abscess; and Tuinal to help him sleep."^[10]

Years after Kennedy's death, it was revealed that in September 1947, while Kennedy was 30 and in his first term in Congress, he was diagnosed by Sir Daniel Davis at The London Clinic with Addison's disease, a rare endocrine disorder. In 1966 Dr. Travell revealed that Kennedy also had hypothyroidism. The presence of two endocrine diseases raises the possibility that Kennedy had autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2 (APS 2).^[259]

Kennedy also suffered from chronic and severe back pain, for which he had surgery and was written up in the American Medical Association's Archives of Surgery. Kennedy's condition may have had diplomatic repercussions, as he appears to have been taking a combination of drugs to treat severe back pain during the 1961 Vienna Summit with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The combination included hormones, animal organ cells, steroids, vitamins, enzymes, and amphetamines, and possible potential side effects included hyperactivity, hypertension, impaired judgment, nervousness, and mood swings.^[260]Kennedy at one time was regularly seen by no fewer than three doctors, one of whom, Max Jacobson, was unknown to the other two, as his mode of treatment was controversial^[261] and used for the most severe bouts of back pain.^[262]

There were disagreements among his doctors, into late 1961, over the proper balance of medication and exercise, with the president preferring the former as he was short on time and desired immediate relief.^[170] During that timeframe the president's physician, George Burkley, did set up some gym equipment in the White House basement where Kennedy did stretching exercises for his back three times a week.^[263] Details of these and other medical problems were not publicly disclosed during Kennedy's lifetime.^[264]"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

 

What's interesting is that the Army disqualified Kennedy because of his back problems but the Navy enlisted him and let him captain PT-109, and his service during World War II was recognized with various medals after PT-109 was rammed and sunk and he saved some of his men.  I wonder whether a peacetime US Navy would have enlisted him for active service with all the health issues he had.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

Kelsey Grammer's ex-wife, I forget which one, but she was on one of those stupid housewives shoes.  She has Crohns.

 

Bob Schieffer  is 78 years old and has a 40 journalist career. "Face the Nation" is his weekly show on CBS Sunday mornings.  He did an editorial years ago at the end of Face the Nation.  He said that he has UC and said he thinks his past smoking might have contributed or made it worse.  I don't remember the specific words but it stuck me as strange because when I was diagnosed I still smoked some and my GI said that maybe I should talk to him before quitting!  I think my disease was mild and didn't flare much for years before my diagnosis because I smoked.  I went ahead a quit because I thought I needed to keep my lungs and heart healthy too.  Around then I went to Mayo's for a second opinion and was waiting in a room for a procedure with another woman with UC.  She was not a smoker and was in a trial to see if nicotine would help her UC. I've searched for results of this trial in the past and didn't find anything about it.  I figured something happened like they couldn't find enough people to conduct the experiment with.  She was drinking the nicotine in some form of a shake.  At least they were not smoking!

 

Bob's done a PSA for CCFA and it's shown in my part of the country frequently.

 

President Kennedy was a smoker too.  I've heard that he probably had UC along with all of his other medical problems. I wonder how they tested for it back then.  He went to Mayo's or some other top hospital of the era for testing.  This all leads to me assuming that maybe his smoking kept his UC from flaring badly.  Does anyone else wonder how he carried on so many affairs with all of his medical conditions and bad back?  CTB mentioned thing he took testosterone - maybe that helped him to carry on all of his dalliances.  

Marie, I think all that screwing around contributed to him back problems!

It may have been mentioned already, but Amy Brennem, actress on TV shows including Judging Amy and The Leftovers, has a j-pouch.

In the UK, Darren Fletcher who played for Manchester United & now for WBA & Scotland had UC & now is a pouchie is playing full time again.