Whether it is reaching a personal goal – starting a business, making the varsity basketball team, teaching kindergarten or participating in activities with your family – your story can be an inspiration to others. You have the power to provide hope and encouragement to those looking to connect with someone who truly knows their situation.

We encourage you to help in our mission of providing support to those living with serious intestinal diseases like Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer or others conditions that can lead to ostomy surgery — by submitting a Great Comebacks^® application for yourself or someone you know who is living their life with passion.

Now in its third decade, the Great Comebacks Program, founded in 1984 by legendary San Diego Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke, aims to raise awareness about living with serious intestinal diseases and the quality of life that is possible with an ostomy. By educating patients, their families and friends as well as the general public we can help remove the stigma associated with these diseases and having an ostomy.

The deadline is fast approaching for this year’s applications, but there is still time to enter. If you would like to share your story or you know someone who would like to share their story, please visit www.GreatComebacks.com and submit a nomination for yourself or others by July 15, 2010.

If you have any questions, please contact Etanjalie Ayala at 212-445-8225 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 212-445-8225 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or eayala@webershandwick.com.

A Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament.

To find out more about IDEAS and the work that it supports go to
weneedideas.com or nogutsknowglory.com

WHERE: Terminal City Club at 837 W. Hasting St. Vancouver.

WHEN: Sunday 21 March 2010.

TIME: Pay at 1 PM, Shuffle up and deal at 1:30 PM.

HOW TO RESERVE A SPOT:

Call the concierge at 604-488-8643 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 604-488-8643 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Between 9 AM and 5 PM or leave a message after hours.

ENTRY FEE: $100.00

QUESTIONS: Contact Norman Hill 778-899-4455 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 778-899-4455 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Or Paul Head 604-568-8499 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 604-568-8499

Want to learn how people all over Canada are not only living with, but conquering IBD? Join us on Tuesday, March 16th and find out how treatments for IBD have evolved, hear from two people with Crohn’s disease who aren’t letting IBD stop them from scaling Mount Everest, and learn more about IBD and pregnancy!

The speakers we have assembled for these not-to-forget evenings, including Robert Hill and Clinton Shard, will inspire you with their stories and photos.

The Toronto talk is first up on Monday, March 8, 2010 from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Mount Sinai Hospital. Click here for event details.

The Calgary talk takes place at the Libin Lecture Theatre of the Health Science Centre from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Click here for event details.

At the end of March, adventure athlete Rob Hill will be embarking on his final challenge in the No Guts Know Glory Seven Summits Campaign – tackling the highest peak in each of the seven continents. Everest is the last peak Rob needs to summit to complete his mission.

A feat only achieved by a handful of Canadians to date, Rob will be the first Canadian with Crohn’s disease to complete all seven summits. Rob doesn’t let Crohn’s disease define him, and he’s issuing a challenge to Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients in Canada and around the world: Go to www.IBDadventures.com and share your inspirational story, image or video about how “IBD Doesn’t Stop Me.”

Read the social media release here.

The Prize
IDEAS is giving away two (2) tickets to an Olympic hockey game in Vancouver, BC as the prize in a Twitter contest to raise awareness of intestinal diseases. Hockey is one of the most sought-after tickets to the games and you could be walking into that venue to catch live, in-person hockey action, with a friend, absolutely free!

Here’s how the contest works:

Entries must be received on Thursday, February 4, 2010 between 12:01am and 11:59pm PST. To enter, please follow these steps:

1. Follow IDEAS on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/weneedideas

2. On Thursday, February 4, 2010 between 12:01am and 11:59 pm PST, tweet the following from your own Twitter account:

I’m following @weneedIDEAS to raise twareness of intestinal diseases and win Olympic hockey tickets, you can too: http://bit.ly/9APCq0

3. Watch your Twitter account on Monday, February 8, 2010 to find out if you’ve won. The winner will be announced before noon PST.

If you don’t have a Twitter account you can sign-up for free at http://www.twitter.com/signup.

Contest information
This is a free, Twitter-only giveaway contest. These Olympic hockey tickets were donated to IDEAS and are being given away, there is no contest entry fee.

The winner will be notified via Twitter from @weneedIDEAS via an @reply tweet and a direct message.

Contest rules
Only one entry per contestant will be entered into the random draw. All valid entries will be assigned a sequential number and a winning number will be selected using http://www.random.org. Unfortunately, only British Columbia residents are eligible to win.

If a winner is unable to claim their prize, numbers will be selected randomly until an eligible winner is found. IDEAS is the sole judge of the contest winner.

Check back soon for more details.

The article is available on the Globe and Mail website here.

To read more about Jonathon, pick up a copy of Triathlon Magazine or read this PDF version of the article.

This is a great new resource for youth with IBD, and will help raise the profile of IBD across Canada.