Hello there Readers!
I have some interesting news! I have been in contact with a counselor from Youth Rally, a camp that I went to for a couple of years ago. The Youth Rally is a camp for kids with a large variety of different bowel or bladder disfunction's, and as you may have guessed, Crohn’s is one of them! I attended Rally the summer after I had my first ileostomy put in place and I got to meet a lot of other kids with ostomy bags too, which is part of the reason I am so comfortable with mine! The second year I attended rally we had 2 guest speakers who were my age. They had just finisher participating in a trek (a hike to the base camp of Mt. Everest!) with IBD adventures to raise money and awareness for IBD, Youth Rally, and Camp Canada (the equivalent to Rally but in Canada.) I had just recently started rock climbing because of another summer camp I go to, Leaders School. I really took an interest in climbing and hiking and when I heard that you could combine that with raising awareness for IBD, I knew I had to get involved. After the presentation I talked to Rob, and he said he would keep me on his radar.
SO! After persistently messaging Rob and trying to get on one of these treks, I finally heard from him about a year ago about hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. I immediately went ballistic. If you don’t already know, I lived in South America for 2 years when I was younger, but Machu Picchu was one of the very few tourist sites my family was not able to visit, therefor it has been on my families bucket list since my brother and I are grown up! The thought of getting to go there AND raise awareness just sent me off the edge! So I worked with Rob and got together sponsorship papers to help me pay my way.
I filled these out back in August.
The trek begins March 16th.
The last time I heard from Rob was right before I had surgery to remove my colon.
There is no way I am going to make this trek, because sponsorship hasn’t come through.
WRONG-O!
4 Days ago I got a facebook message AND an email from Mr. Robert Hill, informing me that my sponsorship had gone through. I had a way to get to Peru. PERU. In South America! Not Peru in Maine (although there is one.) So my blood pressure shot up as my adrenaline started pumping and I quickly dialed my parents phone number asking for my passport to be scanned and sent to me. Well, that call is what reminded me that I had surgery less than 3 months ago. Crud. I got my passport and started working with Rob on some more information, but what are the chances that I my parents will really let me travel out of the continent EXACTLY 3 months after surgery (Yup, December 16th to March 16th. 3 months.) Honestly, I had this gut feeling that it wasn’t going to work out. I had been working for a year to get this to happen and month before hand its just going to fail. Not to mention that I hadn’t done ANY fundraising because I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I also haven’t exactly been working out, I mean, I go to dance team practices and Zumba, but is that really the same as the cardio and aerobic exercises I would need to get ready to be hiking at such a high altitude? So, no, I’m not going to Peru.
BUT WAIT. I got home for February break and had Rob call my parents. My entire trip is paid for, I don’t NEED to fundraise, and one of the kids who climbed to the base camp of Everest was only 2 months out of surgery. I have the will power, so why can’t I do it? After the longest 30 minute phone call ever, my dad put the phone back in the receiver, looked at me, and said “You’re going to freakin’ Peru.” So thats it! Its official! I’M GOING TO FREAKIN’ PERU!!!!
So, ladies and gentlemen, here is the low down.
I leave for Peru March, 16th to meet up with part of the team in Toronto and fly to Lima from there. I get to spend a few days in Lima and then take a plane to Cuzco where I will spend another 2 days acclimating before we start the trek! The trek is then a 4 day hike. We will be spending 8 to 10 hours walking everyday and then spending the night in camps. On the 4th day, we get to wake up at 4am to reach Machu Picchu and take a tour! I don’t want to spoil much more, but that is the basic itinerary!
I am not going on this trip to fundraise. I am going on this trip to raise something else. Awareness. I have always been a huge advocate and I have spoken at a couple different places about my story, but this is the biggest chance I get! My mission is not to get 1 $100 donation, but to get 100 $1 donations. If you are reading this, it would mean a lot to me if you could stop over on the Youth Rally page and donate to camp so that other kids can have the same opportunity I did, and maybe get to where I am one day! But if you can’t, try to find time in your day to talk to someone about IBD, direct them to my blog! Spread awareness!
Check out the website! http://ibdadventures.com/
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