Spec

Report

ON THE COVER

Living

w

"CrOtin F S

Treatment
advances
brighten outlook
for people with
inflammatory
bowel diseases.

Robin Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News

A

former model and business
owner, a successful attorney
and a teenage baseball star; all
are busy, productive members of Metro
Detroit's Jewish community and all are
among the estimated 50,000 people in
Michigan living with inflammatory bowel
diseases (IBDs).
Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, chronic
illnesses that attack the digestive system,
are "coming out of the closet" thanks
to increased fundraising efforts, says
Harriett Fuller of Bloomfield Hills.
She and her husband, Sheldon, were
recently honored by the Crohn's & Colitis
Foundation of America Michigan Chapter
for their tireless efforts to raise money
for research and spread awareness about
the painful and often debilitating ill-
nesses.
Jewish people of European descent
(Ashkenazi) are at higher risk for the
diseases, which affect about 1.5 million
Americans.
"I was diagnosed at age 17: Harriett

Fuller said. "Nobody in those days had
heard about Crohn's disease and nobody
talked about it. It was really in the closet
because you were talking about your
bowels. There were no fundraisers, there
was no organization; you didn't know
where to turn."
Fortunately for Fuller, in 1954 her fam-
ily took her to Mount Sinai Hospital in
New York where she was treated by the
late Dr. Burrill Crohn, one of the first to
identify the disease that bears his name.
She underwent major surgery to remove
about a foot of her intestines and even
spent a summer at Dr. Crohn's home
under his care.
From that point on, Fuller has been
able to live a full and exciting life; she's
a wife, mother, grandmother and great-
grandmother. Fuller is also a former
model who ran her own production
agency, Productions Plus, for 23 years
and currently owns Harriett Fuller
Fashion and Image Consulting.
"They did reconnection surgery, and I
was lucky," Fuller said. "A lot of times, it
doesn't heal and it erupts. Crohn's totally
takes away your immune system, you

can't keep anything in your body; you're
at death's door when it's erupting. I was
also on medication that was very treach-
erous in those days — they didn't know
any other way. I've led a normal life, but
the disease is always part of you."

Maintaining Control
Michael Rubenstein, 14, of Farmington
Hills is part of a new generation of Crohn's
patients. The Harrison High School fresh-
man, a standout baseball player and
president of his class, was diagnosed at the
age of 9. His daily routine includes tak-
ing about 14 pills. Sometimes, he misses
classes when he has a "flare up."
"If I don't take a pill, I could be having
severe pain, almost like having to go to the
hospital;' Rubenstein said. "I still haven't
figured out what this disease can actually
do to me."
"When he was first diagnosed, I was a
wreck: added his mother, Lisa.
Her younger son Jacob, 8, is also show-
ing symptoms of Crohn's. "I'm better now
— but it was tough trying to figure out

Living With Crohn's on page 14

February 8 2007

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