Kids Coping Strategies Video Transcript

Webcast Transcript

I mean I try and play like even if I'm not feeling as well as I could be I just try and play as much as I can, not let the disease effect me.

BROOKE SHEALY: Have you been able to talk to your friends about your disease or do you kind of keep that quiet?

DAVID COHEN: I do talk to my friends like I wouldn't just bring it up out of nowhere that I have Crohn's or anything but if they were like wondering why I wasn't in school, I would tell them that I have Crohn's disease and I have stomach pains or whatever, and I really have no problem sharing it with other people.

BROOKE SHEALY: Tess, tell me about being a fundraiser for the CCFA.

TESS KOMAN: I really enjoy doing that kind of thing. It kind of makes me proud of what I do. And I just think it's for such a good cause knowing what it's like and knowing that there are so many other kids and adults in the world that do need the cure too. It's not just me. It's plenty of other people, and so I fundraise every year. I raise money. I participate in some of the events. I do as much as I can to help.

BROOKE SHEALY: Do you get the chance to help other children who might have questions about IBD?

TESS KOMAN: Yes. I've been pen pals with two or three people. I've talked to people about medicines. And right now, I'm planning to do all these like little things for kids, like going to visit them in the hospital, talk to them like if they have Crohn's, talk to them about what it's like and that they are going to get through it. They just need encouragement and they need to know even though it might be painful, there is still a way out. You can still beat the disease if you want to.

BROOKE SHEALY: And Lizzie, tell me about your hopes and fears for the future.

LIZZIE LUCKMAN: Well, my worries are that my ulcerative colitis will act up like badly again. And it will happen more often. And my hope is that from all these fundraisers, from raising all this money, they'll eventually find a cure for everybody with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

BROOKE SHEALY: And David?

DAVID COHEN: Well, my fears are Crohn's disease being active in my body like again, like I just really don't want the stomach pains to happen and prevent me from my schoolwork and all the sports I play because it's a really huge setback. And my hopes are: I just really want to keep staying active in the CCFA by raising money and hoping to find a cure. And like I participate in the Bowl-a-Thon and the Walk-a-Thon, which is this weekend, which I'm going to do. And hopefully, one day there will be a cure.

BROOK SHEALY: Tess?

TESS KOMAN: Well, my worries are that maybe in the future I will have a couple more surgeries. Maybe the disease will keep going, will maybe get a little bit worse, but my hopes are that if I keep fundraising and I keep doing what I'm trying to do, then I can beat the disease for me and for all these other people that really need to. So so just that's my hope.

BROOKE SHEALY: We need to wrap up this segment of our webcast. Many thanks to our young participants, David Cohen, Tess Koman and Lizzie Luckman. I really appreciate your joining us and sharing with us your experiences with IBD.

In part two, we'll talk with Lizzie, her younger brother and her mom and dad about how families cope with IBD. Thanks for joining us. I'm Brooke Shealy.

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