Recently Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) hosted its annual Walk for Hope benefiting the Center for Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at CHOP, raising more than $247,000 and sparking hope for a cure to IBD.
More than 100 teams made up of 1,200 IBD patients, family members, friends, supporters and CHOP IBD clinicians took part in the festivities at Citizens Bank Park. The event was filled with food, music, dancing, face painting and walking - all while celebrating CHOP's IBD patients and their resilience.
IBD has become a global disease and the number of children with IBD continues to rise rapidly around the world. Children diagnosed before age 5 are among the fastest growing age group of IBD. The past few years have produced an explosion of knowledge about the genetics of IBD and expanded treatment options. CHOP's expert gastroenterologists, geneticists and researchers are at the forefront of working together to evaluate DNA and the microbiome with the goal of developing the next innovative treatments for individuals with IBD.
Walk for Hope aims to generate hope for children with this painful disease. It also helps to create breakthroughs at CHOP's Center for Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease thanks, in part, to 40+ active research studies. The Center treats more than 2,200 patients a year.
To learn more about the event and its impact, visit chopwalkforhope.org.
