The Real Life Journey of UC | HealthCentral

Journalist Linda Rodgers and I had such a lovely conversation when we spoke about this piece. I've told my story many handfuls of times, but Linda's writing really nailed it - she even took me back through my own emotional and health journey in this article for HealthCentral. My hope with this piece is that other patients (more…)

About IBD Podcast: Managing IBD Alongside a Career - Part 1

Amber Tresca's About IBD podcast offers a wealth of insight, wrapped up in warm conversation. I'm very excited to have contributed alongside some incredibly strong women, Mary Elizabeth Ulliman and Tina Aswani Omprakash, (more…)

Enable Injections +SAP Startup | Forbes.com

When I first connected with Enable Injections, I had no idea companies and technology like them even existed - but I visited their facility, sat with their leadership team, and shared my patient perspective for this SAP feature for Forbes.com - and I was impressed with how they are thinking, and what they are building, every step of the way.

As a patient, the infusion experience can be quite enjoyable, to be honest (as I discuss in these medication videos) - so what a technology like this would do for patients is just free up constraints of time, appointments, and hours committed to a chair.

Update: This campaign was awarded 8 Telly Awards in 2020

"It’s great to see something like this come to life and come to market,” said Starshak. “As a chronic illness patient, I think it’s important for us to be able to control what we can and make things easy when we can, because we’re never going to be able to control all of it.” [read full piece/video on Forbes.com]

Marathon Megan on Outdoor Wisconsin

Going after a goal such as qualifying for the Boston Marathon is a big deal. Doing it within the window of remission makes it an even bigger deal. I was honored to have Outdoor Wisconsin on Milwaukee PBS follow my story as I trained for the 2017 Lakefront Marathon while being sure to keep an eye on my greater health. (more…)

About IBD Podcast: It’s a Pain I Invite Into My Life

Amber Tresca of About IBD is a hero to the IBD community. She is an expert at bringing critical information to patients in a way that is easy to understand, and also accurate and reliable. Her podcast, also called About IBD, brings an additional dimension to the conversation of patient experience, by interviewing those living with diseases such as Crohn's and Colitis.

Thanks to Amber for having me as a guest, where I discuss being active with Ulcerative Colitis, behind the scenes at The Great Bowel Movement, and why getting every single patient to find their voice is important and powerful.

Listen on her site, aboutibd.com.

Find me on other About IBD Podcast Episodes:

Managing IBD Alongside a Career - Part 1

The Remicade Experience Videos

When I first heard of infusion treatments for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), it seemed scary. But when I started, I found that the exact opposite is true. The hope offered by many infusion treatments can change the lives of patients like me living with Ulcerative Colitis, as well as a wide range of autoimmune and other diseases. (more…)

Everyday Health: Finding Love with Ulcerative Colitis

I'll just let this piece speak for itself <3.

But what really struck Starshak was that Stewart asked questions about her ulcerative colitis. “His attitude was that he wanted to learn more,” Starshak recalls. “He wanted to know what it was like for me and what the hard parts were. He didn’t think it was gross, and he wasn’t feeling sorry for me.”

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Women's Health: Why These Women Started a Nonprofit All About Poop

When Women's Health reached out to us to feature The Great Bowel Movement on their digital platform, we were honored. An energetic and engaging phone conference with the editor resulted in a piece that we feel did an exceptional job at capturing the true brand that we work to build. Real conversation, tongue-in-cheekiness, the empowerment of everyday patients.

Andrea and Megan bonded over the fact that their youths had been filled with tests, different medications, hospitalizations, and more embarrassing conversations than they could count. "You have a choice to let the illness take over or do something about it, and we both wanted to do something about it," they tell WomensHealthMag.com. "We saw that in each other."

(more…)