'Share their experiences and come together': Yorkton hosts annual Gutsy Walk

For the first time in years, the Yorkton area held a Gusty Walk. The 5km walk aims to raise money and awareness for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Crohn’s Disease can cause inflammation to any part of the digestive track.

Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation to the lining of the large intestine.

Both are incurable, chronic illnesses.

Danica Ruf, the Gutsy Walk Chair for the Yorkton-Melville area, was in attendance for the walk.

“It’d be nice to find a cure,” she said. “So that they’re not suffering because there are times of remission, as well, there are there are times of flare, where it is very debilitating for those individuals.”

One of those individuals is Ruf’s four-year-old son, Benjamin, who has dealt with colitis for half of his life.

“This was my biggest driving force for this,” she explained. “I wanted to gain a sense of community and fundraise for a cure to stop Crohn’s and colitis.”

The Ruf family makes a trip to Saskatoon every three weeks for Benjamin’s treatment.

Where some kids may find the hospital scary, Benjamin loves seeing the nurses at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.

“They’re nice and they bring me to the toy room,” he said.

The nurses play with him as a distraction when he gets an IV inserted.

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This treatment helps ease the pain for him and Benjamin Ruf can now run around and participate in the 5k walk, something he couldn’t have done a year ago.

The Yorkton-Melville Gutsy Walk raised a total of $4,574 this year.

Tiffany Carlton, who lives with Crohn's disease, raised $300 to help out the cause.

“So all my life I’ve pretty well been on meds for Crohn’s,” Carlton said, as she explained the hardships of the condition.

“But it’s great to see that there’s a place where everyone can kind of share their experiences and come together.”