The Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease

by Colin Leslie
(Rye, NY)

It’s amazing that it has been almost a year since I last held my walk in Rye to benefit the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. The success of last year’s event has encouraged me to plan this event again this year. My walk will once again have the goal to raise funds and awareness for celiac disease.

As a reminder, celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that is triggered by the eating of gluten which is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. When a person with celiac disease eats any foods containing these ingredients, it causes the small intestine to attack itself and inhibits the absorption of vital nutrients. Research has shown approximately 1 in every 133 Americans have celiac disease. Amazingly, only 3 % of the 3 million that have it are diagnosed. That leaves 2.97 million Americans that have a serious disease and don’t know it. If Celiac goes undiagnosed it could result in neurological problems, osteoporosis, infertility, and other autoimmune disorders including type 1 diabetes, thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis, liver disease, lupus, and even cancer.

I was diagnosed at the age of 13 after having been sick for quite a while with excruciating headaches and joint pain. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me until one thought to test me for celiac disease. After staying on a gluten free diet, my symptoms finally went away. Now at age 15, I am back to all my normal activities and feeling great as long as I don’t eat something containing gluten by mistake. If I do, my small intestine gets re-scarred and I get very sick.

When I learned how many Americans have celiac disease without knowing it and that low awareness of all the symptoms of the disease by both doctors and the public leads to an average time of nine years to get diagnosed after getting sick, I really wanted to do something big to change it. So I came up with having the Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease.

Last year you supported the Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease and helped my event to be a huge success by raising $62,471.73. This event raised more funds than I could have ever dreamed and to top it all off, the money went to support the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. This Center is one of the top in the country and the Center used the money to promote awareness and research for the disease.

The success of last year’s walk prompted me to once again hold this event, which is scheduled for October 14, 2007 at Rye High School in Rye, NY. I am hoping to attract more people and raise additional money by including, in addition to the Walk, presentations on celiac disease by Dr. Peter Green and Nutritionist Anne Lee of Columbia, a gluten free lunch, blood screening for family members of those with celiac, and a gluten free vendor fair.

I hope to attract many people and educate the general public about celiac disease. Raising awareness is one of my key goals along with raising funds once again for Columbia to do research on the disease. This year I have increased my fundraising goal to $75,000 and wish to have 1,000 people in attendance on the walk date.

I hope you will consider attending and contributing to the Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease to help me accomplish my goal.

To send a donation to the walk please make checks payable to the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group and mail them to 15 Hix Ave.
Rye, NY 10580 United States

To register for the walk please visit www.colinlesliewalkforceliacdisease.org