Amy Weider

Amy is a recent college graduate who earned their degree in Women and Gender Studies with a minor in Political Thought from DePaul University. Amy was diagnosed with Crohn’s at the age of 10. After many trial and error attempts at medication, Amy has been in remission for 9 years and is on remicade. Amy is a sex education facilitator and advocator for reproductive health. They love to sew and spend time with their family and chosen family alike. 

Grady Stewart

Grady Stewart hails from the great, historic, and colorful city of New Orleans. Unfortunately, he is not trained in the art of alligator riding, but if he was he would have named his alligator something Cajun like Gumbeaux.

In late 2015, during his freshman year at Louisiana State University, Grady was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at the age of 18. Throughout the past few years, he has experienced the emotional and physical impacts of IBD. His experiences with various medications, medical appointments, and complications have made him highly aware of the challenges of chronic illness As a result, Grady is passionate about advocating for patients and healthcare rights. 

Recently, Grady graduated from LSU with dual degrees in Mass Communication and Film and Media Arts. Currently, he is employed by Loyola University New Orleans College of Law as Communications Coordinator. Also, he is a founding member of Yellow Box Circus, a performance group based in New Orleans. Grady has participated in numerous entertainment events, such as parades, music festivals, and private parties. Outside of his work, Grady is an avid filmmaker, writer, artist, and designer. He enjoys exploring communication and creativity through various forms of multimedia expression. He has worked with organizations such as Young Democrats and the Young Leadership Council. 

Today, Grady continues to be involved with the IBD community as a writer for inflammatoryboweldisease.net. He has worked with organizations such as Improve Care Now’s Patient Advisory Council on patient resources. In addition, he is an alumnus of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s National Council of College Leaders. In that role, he served as chair of the communications workgroup. Grady is excited to continue developing his advocacy through his work with CCYAN.

Lucy Laube

Lucy Laube lives in Portland, OR and works full time at a health non-profit. Her passion for public health began when she was diagnosed with IBD at the age of 15. When she moved to Portland for college, she discovered the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and immediately felt at home. She’s been a dedicated volunteer at the Foundation ever since 2016 which has opened several doors for her including, but not limited to: chairing the 2018 Portland Take Steps walk, interning with the education manager, and travelling to DC to speak with Congress about the Safe Step Act in 2019. In addition to IBD, she also lives with Fibromyalgia, EDS, and CPTSD. Her love of health education drove her recently to start a YouTube channel “Its me: the human bean” to talk about her experience with both the disability community and the LGBTQ community. When she isn’t working, she can be found drawing. Art is a dual passion of hers and she can be found working on a piece during any bit of her free time! She also loves animals, spending time with her parents and brother in Portland, baking with family, going to concerts, and anything to do with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars!  

Nikhil Jayswal

Nikhil Jayswal is a first-year graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Indian Institute of Science. Before this, he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi Technological University in 2014. He spent his childhood in a small town in Nepal where he fell in love with the night sky and has always dreamt of being an astronaut. He is innately curious and an introvert with a deep interest in science and mathematics. He also loves programming, the Wolverine and hip-hop music. 

He was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in the small and large intestine at the age of 20. He quickly went into remission and it wasn’t until his relapse in 2015 that he realised the severity of his condition. Exhausting all possible options within a span of two years, he received an end- ileostomy in 2017. He is currently in partial remission and intends to keep his ostomy for now. 

As a consequence of having an ostomy and IBD – conditions with virtually zero awareness in India, he has been facing discrimination in education and employment, along with a lack of support on many issues including mental health and relationships. As a CCYAN Fellow, he hopes to raise awareness about such issues and motivate young adults afflicted with this condition to speak up and create a support structure for a future generation of patients.

Rachael Whittemore

Rachael Whittemore is a second year Physician Assistant (PA) student at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Originally from a small town in Western North Carolina, Rachael has been a Tar Heel since birth and completed her undergraduate studies at UNC in Art History, medical Spanish and Chemistry. Though she originally sought to pursue a career in architecture, she realized she wanted more hands-on experiences helping people – this ultimately led to her choice to pursue a career as a PA. 

In addition to medicine, she enjoys running, biking, swimming, hiking, playing piano, creating art, cooking, reading, speaking Spanish,  and traveling as much as she can. Though a busy student about to embark on clinical rotations, Rachael enjoys giving back to her community as much as she can. She works with Winchester’s free medical clinic to provide services to those who do not have insurance and enjoys working with other medical disciplines there, whether that is as a PA student or as a Spanish interpreter. In addition to working with the underserved, she hoped to become involved again in the IBD community as she felt she was unable to advocate for IBD awareness while in school. 

Rachael, now 27, was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) at age 23 and was lucky that her providers truly listened to her and were able to diagnose and treat her early in the disease process. She has gone through periods of remission and flares, but has finally been able to stay in remission for more than 6 months. Going through this experience while also going into the medical profession, she hopes to use the same compassion and patient empowerment that she saw in her providers who cared for her. 

After learning about the CCYAN fellowship from an awesome IBD advocate, Rachael is excited about working with others and learning more about their experiences and patient advocacy through this fellowship. As a new fellow, she hopes to use these opportunities to enrich her clinical education as a future PA, bring IBD awareness to those around her and make others feel empowered and encouraged to share their stories with us.

Rachel Straining

Rachel is currently in that weird yet exhilarating post-grad phase of life. She graduated from Binghamton University with degrees in Sociology, French, and Comparative Literature, so she really likes to read and write. She currently works full-time at a marketing and advertising agency and runs her blog, The No Gluten Girl, on the side, all of which involves reading and writing. 

Can you guess what she likes to do in her spare time, too?! If you guessed read and write, she owes you a medal. Rachel also loves spending time with and baking for family and friends. She has a passion for both food and sports so you’ll most likely catch her making gluten-free banana bread with ESPN on the TV. Whether it’s through cooking or writing or advocacy work, she just wants to help as many people as possible. When she can, Rachel loves to travel because there’s something so fascinating to her about discovering and learning about new places and new languages. 

The summer before her senior year of high school, in 2014, was when the word “new” took on an entirely different meaning for Rachel. That was when she was newly diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease after almost 2 years in and out of school and the hospital. It was all so new, and it was all really scary. Things got pretty tough this past year, in 2019, when Rachel had two major flares back to back after not having one for a few years. So, now, in addition to navigating this post-grad world, you could say she’s also navigating the post-flare world. 

To say Rachel’s journey hasn’t been easy would be an understatement. To say it has been life-changing would be entirely true. It’s shown her the strength that lies within herself and the power that lies within having a community and a support network to lean on. It’s shown her that the lows can be low but they’ll sure as heck may you appreciate the highs. It’s taught her how to listen to her body and fight for it and put it first. It’s taught her that while we each may be on our own journeys, shedding light on and talking about the reality of what we’re going through can help us navigate this life together, which is exactly what Rachel hopes to do as a Crohn’s and Colitis Young Adult Network Fellow.

Samantha Rzany

Samantha Rzany currently resides in the suburbs of Chicago. Recently, she graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University in April of 2019 with a degree in both psychology and leadership within three years. She currently works for a non-profit organization centralized in the Chicagoland area. Her responsibilities include event planning and family support. Samantha  is also the Illinois Program Director for Health Advocacy Summit. 

Samantha was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in December of 2018 after nearly two years of testing and has experienced her share of ER visits, hospitalizations, medications, and treatments. Sam is currently receiving Entyvio infusions every 6 weeks and is in remission. In her free time, Sam enjoys hanging out with friends, watching Netflix, painting, and doing calligraphy. 

Simon Stones

Simon Stones is from the United Kingdom, and has lived with arthritis, Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia since childhood. In 2012, Simon was introduced to healthcare research, and became one of the first young patients to be involved alongside healthcare professionals. He’s advocated locally, nationally and internationally ever since for people living with chronic conditions and their carers to be involved in healthcare service development and research about their conditions.

Inspired by his own experiences, he’s determined to make improvements for other young people with chronic conditions. He’s been involved in over 20 research studies and has contributed to the development of six international research recommendations. Through his website and social media, Simon shares his work and experiences, communicating with the wider patient community. He is also a member of several different committees and groups with a remit to healthcare. At just 26 years old, he has already won numerous awards, including the WEGO Health Award in the ‘Healthcare Collaborator: Patient’ category. In 2019, he was named as one of the United Kingdom’s most influential 100 people with disabilities. Determined to make sure patient voices are heard at all levels, Simon is a director of the charities Fibromyalgia Action UK and RAiISE (invisible illnesses in schools and education). He is also the President of the European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations.

Simon is nearing completion of his PhD in applied health research at the University of Leeds, where he is developing recommendations to aid the self-management of long-term conditions by children, their families and other professionals involved in their care and education. Prior to his PhD, Simon achieved a first class degree with honours in Biomedical Sciences from The University of Manchester.