This project is the creation of Jessica Grossman a 20-year-old actor, model and university student from Toronto, Ontario, who has had an ileostomy since 2003. The project is supported by IDEAS - the Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society (www.WeNeedIdeas.com) and by UOAA.
The new website was launched on Oct 3, coinciding with the observance of World Ostomy Day 2009 throughout most of the world. The U.S. observance of World Ostomy Day was postponed to Oct 17. The new site is linked closely to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, view www.facebook.com/uncoverostomy. On her site, she tells a bit about herself:
"I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 3, 1989. I grew up loving the arts, acting, singing, dancing, drawing, painting and everything in between. I went through various career goals as a child; such as, a teacher and a fashion designer, but my real dream has always been to be an actor. School was a big part of my life. I went to a private elementary school and a public high school. I learned very different things from both schools and their environments, but I learned much nonetheless. At 8-years-old, I started to have stomach pains. When I was 9, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. At 10, I was living with the chronic pain and other symptoms of the disease. At 11, I spent my first hospitalization, 9 days, 7 of which I was not allowed to eat. At 12, I lived in the hospital. At 13, I was told if I did not agree to have my colon removed and replaced with an ostomy, I would die. At 13, I was saved. This is just a summary. Despite how difficult it is to talk about myself his way, I think this is an important story so many of us share. In grade 12, I was asked to create a media campaign to spread awareness of a topic of my choosing. Of course, I chose my ostomy. This was my chance to share my story and spread awareness to show that if I can be comfortable with what I have, anyone can be. The ad campaign I created was well received. It ended up being published in a few magazines and helped me win a scholarship to attend the University of Western Ontario for Media Studies. The message my ad contained, however, needed to be spread wider.
This is when I teamed up with IDEAS and the UOAA. They told me my campaign was exactly what they needed - what society needed - to spread awareness. This is what I am doing."
