No Guts—Know Glory! (NAPSA)—At 23-years of age, Rob Hill was a strong, healthy athlete who had never been sick in his life. Then, he began to get daily diarrhea, cramps and pain that wouldn’t go away. Rob was eventually told he had Crohn’s disease with ulcerative colitis, related conditions that cause pain and inflammation of the in- testines for nearly one and a half million Americans. Rob’s condition got worse—he lost 80 pounds and, a year and a half later, his large intestine was removed in a surgery known as ostomy. “When it came down to losing my colon or losing mylife, it wasn’t a hard decision to make,” he says. Once barely able to climb the stairs in his house, Rob would soon be climbing mountains in a shining example to all people who suffer from intestinal diseases. Upon his return to competitive sports, his Mom jokingly remarked that his performance “wasn’t bad for a guy with no guts.” Her play on words became the theme for Rob’s efforts to climb the tallest peaks on all seven continents (known as the Seven Summits) to raise awarenessof intestinal diseases and that people can return to a normal life after ostomy surgery. Fewer than 100 people over the past 20 years have successfully scaled the Seven Summits. The feat is hard on anyone, much less someone without their colon, the organ that is primarily responsible for absorbing water and nutrients into the body. The No Guts—Know Glory! campaign grew from Rob’s love of sport and the outdoors, pursuits he returned to with newfound dedication not long after surgery. Sponsored by ConvaTec, a world- leading manufacturer of ostomy and wound care products, Rob hopes to become the first Crohn’s One young climber summits obstacles for intestinal disease awareness. disease patient to conquer the Seven Summits. Rob hasalready climbed four of the Seven Summits—including Mt. McKinley in Alaska—and is setting his sights on Antarctica in 2006, which will be the coldest of any climb to date. For his inspirational efforts, Rob was recently recognized by the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) and ConvaTec with an honorary award from the Great Comebacks* Program, which, for more than twenty years has given special recognition to those whoselife stories inspire people living with an ostomy. Today, Rob continues to break down barriers for people living with intestinal diseases, letting them know that “it’s okay to talk about these conditions and not something to hide behind.” Through a new series of public education activities, Rob encourages patients to get out and sum- mit their own personal mountains. For more information about Rob Hill, the Great Comebacks Award or the No Guts—Know Glory! campaign, please visit www.greatcomebacks.com or www.nogutsknowglory.com.
