Raise a Paw!

I'll admit I've been very lax in raising my paw for a cause. Gaius's contest is so great and I think I'm down to the wire with tomorrow being the last day.

As all of my friends have said, choosing one cause is hard! I decided to choose the nearest and dearest foundation to the Lap Lady at the moment. My LL was very itchy with bumpy hives all over her body and really miserable for about 6 months. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her and she was really worried and frustrated when her mouth swelled up really big. She came to find out that she has Celiac's Disease. This is an auto-immune disorder that is an intolerance to gluten. Gluten is in wheat, barley, and rye. People with Celiac's have varied responses to eating gluten but it can get very serious as they have trouble absorbing nutrients as the vili which line their small intestines are destroyed. The great news is that the damage done is completely reversible! Plus, as long as she goes gluten-free she will be feeling great and not sick anymore.

The LL really thinks this has been such a blessing to her. At first it was hard, you may remember back in September she was really cranky. Well, she was going through gluten withdrawl. Its pretty funny to think that wheat could be addictive but it is. It is estimated that 1 in 133 people have Celiac's Disease but only 3% of those are aware. While the disease itself isn't fun it greatly increases other health risks especially lymphoma and colon cancer. The great news is without eating gluten those risks go back to normal!

We are not the only Cat Blogging family with a Celiac and you will find that it is more common than you'd ever considered. So I want to support the Celiac Disease Foundation. I also really want to thank Bonnie & Victor's family who just helped the LL figure all of this out and made it so much easier on her.