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Fighting Crohn’s fuels
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18 June 16 • 2016

Max, Hannah and Aidan Charlip

ody and Ari Charlip couldn’t
figure out why their son Max,
a fifth-grader at Warner Upper
Elementary School in Farmington
Hills, was constantly tired and always
running to the bathroom. Once a
gourmet eater, he lost his appetite.
An eager athlete, he tired easily and
often fell asleep during car rides home
from his sporting events while his twin
brother, Aidan, remained wide awake
and engaged in conversation.
Clearly, something was wrong, so
the Charlips embarked on a mission to
find him relief.
Last fall, he spent many nights
in the bathroom, unable to sleep,
wracked with stomach pains. A twin
already small for his age, Max was los-
ing weight and unable to sit through
the school day because he needed to
run to the bathroom.
He missed weeks of school. “He was
miserable,” says his mother, Jody.
“It’s the worst thing to see your child
suffer so much pain and not be able to
do anything about it,” says his father,
Ari.
The Charlips, a Farmington Hills
family and Temple Israel members,
pursued medical testing for Max to
determine what was besieging their
son. After Max endured many tests last
fall, Dr. Souheil Gebrara, a Beaumont
children’s pediatric gastroenterologist,
diagnosed Crohn’s, an inflammatory
bowel disease associated with inflam-
mation of the digestive tract lining.
Max immediately began a regiment of
periodic infusion treatments, which
have worked wonders.
After his first infusion six month
ago, he gained six pounds over two
weeks. He eats constantly. Walking
around the home of his grandparents,
Sonny and Norm Cohn, one Sunday
night when the extended family gath-
ered for dinner, Max noshed through
appetizers and dinner and kept nib-
bling afterward.
His parents watched, beaming,
thrilled their son is finally on the road
to health. However, with a chronic dis-
ease, they are all too aware that many

patients suffering from Crohn’s have
setbacks and often endure periodic
bouts of misery, possibly leading to
surgery if treatments cease working.
A few months ago, Max wrote a letter
to Dr. Gebrara saying, “You’re the best
doctor on Earth. Thank you for making
me better. Love, your patient Max.”
On Saturday, June 18, the Charlip
family, including Max, his parents and
his siblings Hannah, age 14, and Aidan,
11, along with family and friends, will
form Team Max and walk as part of
the Metro Detroit Take Steps Walk for
Crohn’s & Colitis.
Team Max has already raised more
than $1,240. To donate, go to tinyurl.
com/CCFATeamMax. The walk raises
money and awareness toward finding a
cure for digestive diseases.
Check-in is at 9 a.m.; the walk begins
at 10:30 a.m. at Meininger Park in
Royal Oak.
“The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation
of America’s (CCFA) Take Steps walk
is our largest event and raises critical
funds to find new treatments and hope-
fully a cure,” said Melissa Greer, CCFA
Michigan’s executive director.
The cause of Crohn’s remains a mys-
tery, though researchers believe a com-
bination of genetics, environmental fac-
tors and an abnormal immune response
may together damage the digestive
tract and lead to inflammation. Crohn’s
symptoms can include frequent diar-
rhea, rectal bleeding, a constant feeling
of needing to go to the bathroom and
fatigue.
It is a rare, chronic disease with no
known cure, though treatments can
help immensely. There are fewer than
200,000 cases diagnosed in the United
States each year. Diagnoses spike
between ages 6 and 18 and are even
higher between 19 and 40.
“It is such a relief to finally have
answers and a path toward health for
Max,” his mother says. “We are excited
to walk with our friends and family and
do what we can to raise awareness and
fundraise toward finding a cure. I hope,
in my son’s lifetime, this disease can be
eliminated.”

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