World Crohn's and Colitis Day

The first annual World Crohn's and Colitis Day (WCCD) was celebrated on May 23, 2007. The event was created by Josh Golder and recognized by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, as well as by people from around the world. Josh is a prominent figure and activist in the Crohn's and Colitis community (who himself has Crohn's disease), who directed and produced the internationally known, community-wide movie, "True Guts: Struggle and Triumph over Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis" (which is more commonly known as "True Guts"). Josh created WCCD as a way to bring people affected by either disease together, as well as friends and family members of those individuals, and even those who knew nothing about either disease in order to increase awareness of them.

Crohn’s Disease
Named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, who first described the disease in 1932 along with colleagues Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer, Crohn’s disease belongs to a group of conditions known as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract.
Crohn’s most commonly affects the end of the small bowel (the ileum) and the beginning of the colon, but it may affect any part of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, from the mouth to the anus. Ulcerative colitis is limited to the colon, also called the large intestine.
Crohn’s disease can also affect the entire thickness of the bowel wall, while ulcerative colitis only involves the innermost lining of the colon. Finally, in Crohn’s disease, the inflammation of the intestine can “skip”-- leaving normal areas in between patches of diseased intestine. In ulcerative colitis this does not occur.