Crohns disease... "Speeding the Cure"

Kady Munroe looks over garden she’s started. Photo by Glenn Moore

Hundreds of young people will rock to the tune of six metal bands in Modesto this weekend to raise awareness and money for Crohn’s disease, an incurable illness that swells the intestinal track.

The concert is the brainchild of Kady Munroe of Tracy, who pairs her battle with Crohn’s disease with her passion for music to raise money for a cure.

The 16-year-old’s life took a turn two years ago in her sophomore year at Tracy High School when she was diagnosed with the disease. Kady barely ate, her immune system weakened and she dropped nearly 60 pounds. Within a few weeks, school turned from a cherished social affair to an impossible challenge.

"I thought she was going to die," said Janis Munroe, Kady’s mother. "We’d see the scale go lower and lower each day."

Last spring, Kady transferred to Delta Charter High School where she set her own pace to make up for about a school year’s worth of work. The worst symptoms of the disease have faded over the past six months. She still takes 16 pills a day and uses her short spurts of energy wisely.

"As I started to feel better, I wanted to do something to help," Kady said.

That’s when the possibility to find a cure for Crohn’s disease came into focus.

"Just sitting here won’t find a cure," she said. "We need everybody to come together to make it happen."

Kady has raised $2,500 for Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, and she said she hopes to raise more than $700 on Saturday.

The trunk of her car is usually full of bags of soda cans for her "Cans for Crohn’s" fundraiser, which she started last spring. Kady snaps photos of friends and family and hands her earnings over to Crohn’s research. Her father, a dwarf car racer, sells stickers at races and donates winnings to the fund he dubbed Speed the Cure.

Kady also plans to host a bake sale and a second benefit concert in October as well as form a team to walk at the Crohn’s fundraiser, Guts and Glory, on Sept. 8 in Sacramento.

"It’s extraordinarily brave and impressive that she’s putting this amount of energy to raise awareness and much needed money," said Tamara Block, executive director of the Northern California chapter of CCFA.

Performers are I Shot the Sheriff from Fremont, The Beaches of Normandy from Tracy, The Let Down from Ceres, La Circa from Stockton, Portrait of the Artist from Patterson and 5 Characters in Search of an Exit from Pacifica.

To get to Kady's Web site: www.crohns-core.com