crohn’s and colitis canada and abbvie scholarships give students chance to change future of ibd
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“it’s really important to challenge yourself just for personal growth and also because your condition, it’s added value. it’s not a roadblock to your success, and i think the voices of ibd patients, like others, deserve to be heard.”
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when winnipeg native colin dickson graduated from high school, he already planned out his life and career. he would join the canadian armed forces (caf), dedicating his life to serving his country. then, during his training at only 20 years old, he began experiencing the painful symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (ibd) and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
“there was a lot of fear because when you get sick and go to the hospital, you always think that the doctors will have the answer and they’ll be able to patch you up,” he said.
unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. ulcerative colitis and ibd don’t have a “magic pill” that could fix colin, so he had to accept that “this would be a lifelong thing” that he would battle.
he ended up having to leave the caf because his illness was incredibly severe, spending the next decade in and out of hospitals, having surgeries, trying to get by with his new normal, and at one point, almost losing his life.
“it really affected me,” he said. “i lost my career. i lost my apartment, lost my girlfriend. i just lost everything from this disease and was just very alone, sick, in the hospital, with nothing.”
today, colin lives with a permanent ostomy bag, a collection device that’s attached to the outside of the abdomen to collect bodily waste through a stoma.
he’s not alone in his experience with ibd, either. over 322,000 canadians are living with some form of ibd. chloé vaccarino, born and raised in montreal, is one of them. however, she lives with crohn’s disease, a diagnosis she received when she was just 15 years old.
“at first, it was really difficult. i was spending half of my school time and classes in the hospital,” she said. “initially, it was very destabilizing.”
as chloé got older, her disease managed to get better, and she learned how to read her body to be aware of what she needed when she needed it to cope with the demands of life, school and the disease that was ravaging her body from the inside.
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“if i didn’t pay attention to it (her body’s needs), then i knew there’d be consequences to it. there’d be a flare-up coming that would affect my studies. so, it’s just been a question of knowing my body and understanding when i need to focus on my physical health rather than solely studying and working toward school.”
both colin and chloé have dealt with their own unique share of issues because of their ibd. yet, both are working today toward careers in the medical industry so that they can put their stamp on the world in a way that helps the coming generations of people who will be diagnosed with ibd.
and they’re doing that with the help of the crohn’s and colitis/abbvie scholarship program.
scholarship program for exceptional students with ibd
abbvie canada, in partnership with crohn’s and colitis canada, has announced the 2025 scholarship recipients, each being awarded $5,000 to put toward their academic careers. recipients are recognized for their ability to continue aspiring to do great things while living with an oftentimes debilitating disease. it’s designed to award resilience and academic dedication to well-deserving candidates.
“as someone living with ulcerative colitis, i understand firsthand the challenges that students with ibd face while pursuing their education,” said president and ceo of crohn’s and colitis canada, josh berman, in a press release.
in total, 15 students were awarded the grant, and to date, 154 students have received scholarships in the past because of the program. the money provides a cushion where there may have been stressful weight for people struggling with an incurable, chronic disease while trying to achieve great things.
using scholarship money to change the future
chloé understands all too well how difficult it can be to study while trying to ward off flare-ups. even though her disease is stable, she still has to meticulously plan her days so that she doesn’t fall behind. the scholarship can help her do that.
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“it allows me, somewhat, not to work part-time to fund these things (textbooks), so it’s actually a lot of stress off my shoulders because i guess a lot of fields, including medicine, are really time-consuming,” she said.
the scholarship, to her, isn’t just money, though.
“more symbolically, it’s a recognition of the efforts i’ve been putting in for the last five years since my diagnosis,” she said. “it’s a symptom of a tight-knit ibd community where people come together to not only listen to each other but also … help each other, give each other the tools to reach these goals that might be somewhat impeded by our diagnosis.”
while chloé is still exploring the various specialty paths available to her, she hopes to pursue a career in medicine that directly addresses her own disease, including gastroenterology, as well as pediatrics.
“i feel like there’s a lot of space for interventions. it’s like a really privileged period in their life, and when we intervene, it has long-term effects,” she said.
she also hopes that her story and her dedication help others realize that having a chronic disease doesn’t have to hinder growth and advancement in life.
“(my) advice to other students who are living with ibd and pursuing their education … learn to live with and not despite your condition. i guess that goes for anything, but in my case, i learned it with ibd,” she said. “it’s really important to challenge yourself just for personal growth and also because your condition, it’s added value. it’s not a roadblock to your success, and i think the voices of ibd patients, like others, deserve to be heard.”
colin didn’t start his professional journey in healthcare, but after leaving the army due to his condition, he began working in social work for children’s family services, helping children. that, coupled with his time in hospitals, “ignited a passion” in him to answer all the mysteries associated with ibd, including the how and why, because he still deals with severe chronic pain even after having the surgery that was meant to remedy it.
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“i found this scholarship and i applied, and honestly, i didn’t think i would get it,” he said, continuing that he was shocked and amazed when his name was on the winners list. “i’m kind of a person who’s just used to bad luck, unfortunately, so sometimes it seems like god has just put this path in front of me and it’s up to me to follow it.”
every course he’s enrolled in is designed to get him closer to answering those currently unanswerable questions in the hopes that he can prevent it from happening, “so that future generations of people don’t have to go through the suffering and pain that i went through.”
colin’s dream is to cure ibd, and he has plans even outside his studies to do so, making the financial assistance from the scholarship even more important.
“i’m also reaching out for grants because i know the experiments that i want to run. if i came across a rich investor, i would set up my own labs, and i guarantee, after 10,000 hours, i would have it all figured out,” he said.
he wants people to know that having ibd isn’t the end, and people can still “get married, have kids and have a somewhat normal life.”
“when they see me, i feel like it gives them hope,” he said. “that they’re not alone in their suffering.”
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