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JOE COBUCCI: Through my journey, it's been an ebb and flow. There's been sniffing about a time where I have been really healthy and my disease has been in check, but then there's been times where it has come back. I was in my early teens and was having a lot of bathroom issues, urgency issues out of nowhere, and it was very frightening, because I wasn't telling my parents, because it was very embarrassing. Especially hanging around with your friends, and all of a sudden, you just go to the bathroom for no reason.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Having those additional challenges were really isolating for me. I limited myself from many things. When asked to do certain things, I was very conscious of choosing what I was going to do, because I wanted to make sure that I knew I could get to the bathroom if I needed to.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

Going to the doctor really opened up my eyes to that someone's going to listen to me. So when I was first diagnosed, they called it ileitis, but during that time frame, things got better. I was feeling good, and it wasn't much of an issue. And then later teens is when it really came back at me and really flared up, and at point is when we got the full diagnosis of Crohn's disease.

I started off with a variety of medications that were available at the time, and honestly, they had seemed to work, and it changed my attitude. I felt uplifted. I felt like there was now something I could take, a diagnosis. I could feel normal, and it was kind of allowing me to be open to doing things.

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At one point in my younger life, I thought, you know, it wasn't possible to have a full-time job. It wasn't possible to travel to Europe. It wasn't possible to have a family. All of those things are possible. I don't want Crohn's disease to limit myself, and I don't want to limit all the patients. You can have a vibrant life.

One of the things that I've learned is the medication is a important part of my disease journey, but also trying to alleviate stress, adding exercise, having the right amount of sleep. At this current stage, I'm taking an injectable medication that is really helping me to flourish. So along with my physician and dietitian, we've found a pathway that's best for me. So I try to eat lean meats. I try to eat vegetables. Sometimes it's just having rice, just kind of bland foods. The main thing that I've done over the years have tried to avoid are really raw foods. They really are not my friend.

This is a lifelong journey. Sometimes it is challenging, and I try to be a positive and resilient person. It's OK having Crohn's disease and feeling isolated and having fear and worry. But taking control of your disease, find the right physician, and finding a community is helpful to be able to say, you know, I want to do that. I'm going to do that.

I've been fortunate over the many years to have run over 60-plus half marathons and seven marathons. So I will say for all the patients that are out there that suffer with Crohn's disease, you know, it's like one foot in front of the other, and before you know it, you're out there, and you're doing something you may never have done. Whatever makes you happy, but I found a lot of strength in running. I'd have not let things slow me down.