Download this National Kids As Self Advocates Document (pdf: 182K | doc: 57K) www.fvkasa.org
Mara is a student at Dartmouth and has been very involved in the STAR Mentoring program.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at twelve years old. Crohn's disease is an auto-immune condition in which the body's immune system attacks the digestive system, resulting in ulceration of the digestive lining, and unpleasant symptoms such as cramping and bleeding. Because my illness is not a visible one, for many years I tricked myself into thinking that if I hid my Crohn's disease from other's, that it would not affect my life in any way. For a while, this strategy worked. I took my medicine, got plenty of rest, and took good care of myself, and I seemed pretty healthy to the outside world.
When I started college three years ago, however, I found myself having a more difficult time maintaining my health. The transition to college was difficult for me because I was adjusting my eating, sleeping, and drinking habits in the effort to be a "normal" college freshman, and I found myself encountering a host of factors that made it difficult to cope with my Crohn's disease. It was then that I realized that compared to my friends, who didn't have as many worries and responsibilities as I did, I wasn't normal. Whatever that means!
One of the things that helped me through this transition was that I became involved in a mentor program that matches Dartmouth College students with chronic health conditions with local adolescents who have similar diagnoses. The program, called STAR Mentoring, stands for Steps Toward Adult Responsibility, and is based out of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The STAR program is run by Dr. Mark Detzer, a Clinical Psychologist, and the mentoring component is run through the Tucker Foundation for community services at Dartmouth, where Dr. Detzer is aided by student volunteers. Dr. Detzer and student coordinators work in conjunction with nurses at DHMC and the director of the College Health Center and the disabilities coordinator to facilitate matches.
During my freshman year, I was matched with a teenage girl who had Crohn's disease. We found that we had undergone many of the same experiences, and were able to relate to each other and support each other. I also learned a tremendous amount of factual information about my illness from her. It didn't take long before the relationship developed from a mentor-mentee dynamic to a friendship.
Now I am senior at Dartmouth, and I have been the co-chair for the mentoring program for the past three years. I have mentored for four different individuals with Crohn's disease, through face-to-face contact, and often with e-mail or phone contact when distances or health status made that impossible. Now I help facilitate the matching process, recruit Dartmouth students, and plan social events for STAR members, like ropes courses and going to sporting events at Dartmouth. Along with several other Dartmouth students I lead dinner groups every other month where the STAR teens come together to discuss issues that face adolescents with special health concerns, such as dealing with medication and side effects, talking to friends about their condition, and advocating for special needs or attention at school.
It has been a great experience for me to be able to come together with a group of optimistic, understanding, and articulate individuals, all of whom share a common link with me. I have met some of the most interesting and impressive people through this program. Besides that, we just have fun, with dinners, retreats, and activities. While I feel that I have made a positive impact on the STAR program by acting as a supportive role model to younger teenagers, I have also taken more from it in learning, growth, and life experience than I ever could have hoped for when I was a freshman.
Links
About the STAR program Finding our Way (teen/parent stories)
Nine Stories (teen stories)