It’s that time of year again: a little self-reflection and bragging about the accomplishments of the last year. UCVlog has now been operating for 3 years, and we continue to get better and better every year thanks to all of your wonderful comments and suggestions!
And to brag just a little more (and then I’ll be done; I promise), our 280+ videos have been watched over 805,000 times! Watched by you, that is, not us.
Some other great news for you, the patient, is that we are no longer the only game in town. When we started UCVlog there weren’t really that many IBD/ostomy/cancer/colon disease videos online (at least, not that many good videos). Slowly but surely, there are getting to be more and more confident and competent vloggers, especially those with ostomies. Instead of listening to only a couple experiences with disease (and our experiences have been rather depressing at times), there are now so many more perspectives, which hopefully helps you make better decisions about your treatment.
For a look back, here are some of the memorable posts from last year:
That’s right, custom IBD awareness bracelets, for you, expressing the hope we all have: that one day a cure will be found for this terrible disease! We know how hard it is to talk about inflammatory bowel disease with the people around you. Wear these bracelets proud, and hopefully they’ll start conversations with people about IBD and the need for a cure.
Quantities are limited! Bracelets can be ordered in packs of 3, 5, and 10. Give them to your family, your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors: the more people wearing them the higher the awareness.
Shipping is included at $2.50 for anywhere in the U.S. We also ship internationally for a little bit more!
All proceeds support UCVlog.com, which is financed entirely from Dennis and Nadia’s little checkbooks.
If you have any questions before you order, please contact us now at bracelets@UCVlog.com.
Payment is taken care of with Paypal, the internet’s most trusted and secure method of payment.
The Toilet Paper for a Year contest is over, and Sarah Fagan is the winner! Sarah is 18 years old and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when she was 17. When she was first diagnosed she had to stay in the hospital for an entire month to get things under control. The remission didn’t last long, and in April this year she had the first step of the surgery. Just a couple days ago she had step two of the J-pouch surgery, and is actually currently in the hospital!
Sarah’s motto is: “I swim. I run. I hike. I ski. I have an ileostomy.” After adjusting to her ileostomy, she created a picture book for young children facing a total colectomy in order to educate them in a fun, interactive method about living with an ileostomy. She gave the book to her ostomy nurse who now uses it to teach pediatric patients about their ostomy. The book focuses on the concept that young people with ostomies can live a very active, “normal” life. To see the book, click here.
Additionally, this summer she will be a camp counselor at Camp Gut Busters, a camp for children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
We also had two runners-up, Liesl Peters and Cathy Jackson, both of whom will receive toilet bowl mugs.
Thanks to everybody that participated! We will have more contests in the future!
Many of you really get something out of this website, and we really appreciate all of the wonderful comments we get from people all over the world telling us how helpful this website is. Some of you find it so helpful you want to tell your doctors and nurses and the patients at your hospital about it.
If that sounds like you, we just got in a huge batch of new rack cards. They look as follows:
If you would like to promote UCVlog.com in your hospital, please email Dennis or email Nadia and we can send you some, free of charge! We’re glad to send them to you if you can bring them to your doctor.
We appreciate already those of you who’ve already asked us for cards and have distributed them in your hospitals!
Of course, if you are unable to distribute them in your hospital, you can always support UCVlog.com through an easy donation through Paypal.
Hey everybody, today UCVlog is two years old! Thanks so much to all of our loyal viewers who have helped make this project a success! Everybody in the IBD/ostomy/colon disease community has been really supportive of our effects, and we wouldn’t keep doing this site if it wasn’t for all the wonderful comments we get on a daily basis!
This site has grown so much in the past year. Nadia joined forces with me in February, and we currently have something like 200-plus videos available. Currently our videos have been watched 477,927 times! You’ve really made this the most successful vlog for colon issues. Last year at this time our videos had been watched a mere 127,000 times–we more than tripled that number this year! Where will we be next year at this time? A million video views? It’s possible if you keep spreading the word to all your friends and doctors about UCVlog.com.
We also started an unused ostomy supply and medical supply donation drive, and so far that’s been super successful! Nadia’s ostomy group is getting ready to send the first shipment to Haiti, but that doesn’t mean the supply drive is over. Because it has been so successful this year, and everybody has been super generous, we are continuing the drive indefinitely. What that means for you: if you’ve had your takedown surgery, and have extra supplies that you (obviously) can’t use anymore, send them our way! Or, if you have a permanent ostomy and have changed pouching systems to something that works better, send us the old supplies! The people of Haiti really need them.
Nadia and I are always working on new projects, videos, and other ways of engaging with the colon disease community. If you have any ideas for us, send them our way! We have several projects in the works right now, so keep coming back this next year, as it’s sure to be the best year yet for the United Colon Vlog!
On the right side you’ll find a new page: Support UCVlog. Through this page, you can donate directly to the United Colon Vlog operation. Donations will be used for four things:
Website maintenance
Shipping costs to deliver ostomy supplies to Haiti
Ostomy stuffed animals for children with ostomies
Camp Oasis
Now, this isn’t just Nadia and I being greedy and looking for your money. This is something a lot of viewers have requested lately. If this site has provided you with a lot of information and support in your journey with colon problems, then consider donating a few dollars.
Nadia and I won’t take any money ourselves. That’s not the point. But the website does cost money, and costs more and more all the time.
Many of you have donated ostomy supplies to our project in Haiti, and we really appreciate that and so will the Haitian people when the supplies are delivered in October. But delivering the supplies costs money, so some of the money will go to shipping those supplies.
Finally, kids with IBD and ostomies have a special place in my heart. Maybe you’ve seenmyblog entries about Camp Oasis. Well, camp costs a lot of money. I’m not sure how much other camps cost, but the Minnesota camp costs roughly $1,000 per child, so it adds up pretty quickly. Next year I’d like to return with stuffed animals with ostomies for all the ostomy kids, but that will take some funds too.
So any amount you can give will be appreciated. Nothing will be wasted, and we’ll update the community periodically on how funds are spent.
Another milestone has been passed, people. Collectively the UCVlog.com videos–Nadia’s videos, my videos, our duo videos, and our translated videos–have been watched over 300,000 times!
If you’ve watched a video, then you’ve helped make this possible!
And this most recent 100,000 addition took us only 98 days–a new record as well! Thanks so much for all of your support, especially you loyal viewers who have claimed to watch every one of our videos! We wouldn’t keep this site running if it weren’t so popular!
This summer Nadia and I have lots of plans for this site, so don’t think we’ve burned out yet! More great videos are on their way, as well as other projects, so stay tuned!
If you have any comments or suggestions for future video topics, please let us know! Send us emails to: Nadia@UCVlog.com | Dennis@UCVlog.com
Hey Everyone! I am joining Dennis as we both found that our mission is so similar, that seperately we are doing fine, but together we can do great things. In the IBD community it is important to raise awareness as we all fight each day. So, this collaboration is such a positive force to accomplishing that goal. Some of the information in this introduction video is repeat from some of my past videos but for those of you who do not know me, it gives you a brief glimpse into the life of Nadia and my struggle. When I first became ill, I struggled a lot, not only physically, but emotionally as well, but over the course of the last three years, I have shed a lot of my embarrassment and have opened myself up to being comfortable with myself and my disease. So many hospitalizations, not only because of my Crohn’s colitis, but the complications CC caused, took over my life. I never lose faith and I will get well. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity, Dennis and the UC community!! An interesting fact I found out the other day was that an elephant eliminates up to 300 pounds of waste a day (the most of any living creature).. Some days I feel like I run a close second place to the elephant.. Just sayin’ Anyways, Take care.
Everybody, I would like to announce that my good friend Nadia is now an official contributor to UCVlog.com!
I met Nadia over a year ago, I think, as we were both starting to make videos about our experiences. She has Crohn’s colitis, I have ulcerative colitis, but we both went through surgery to remove our colons at roughly the same time.
What struck me as refreshing about Nadia’s videos were always how informative, inspirational, and professional they were. I’ve seen a lot of videos about IBD this past year and a half, and Nadia’s videos are hands down at the very top.
I’ll let her tell you more about herself, but she has gone through so much since getting diagnosed with Crohn’s about three years ago. And through it all, her attitude remains positive and she always has a smile on her face.
Nadia has more medical knowledge than me, is more inspiring and optimistic than me, and has a greater perspective on life than me. She’s really great, and hopefully in the coming days and weeks and months you’ll get to know her better. She will provide great perspectives from both the women’s side and the Crohn’s side.
She’ll be posting videos like me and anything else she finds interesting. When you get a chance, email her at Nadia@UCVlog.com and introduce yourself!
Hey everybody, excuse me while I brag a little. This week the total video views for all of the UCVlog videos and translated videos broke the 200,000 mark! For this, I have to thank all of your loyal fans, especially those of you who’ve claimed to have watched all my videos. I really appreciate the support you show for this site.
What’s really amazing is that it took 10 months to break the 100,000 mark, but only 5 months to break the 200,000 mark! Do you think we can make 350,000 before the site’s two year anniversary? I think we can.
Here’s another interesting statistic: if all 200,000 of those videos had been fully watched (I can only hope for that but I know some people get bored and don’t finish a video), it would take over 857 days to watch every video back to back!
If you have any video ideas for me about topics you’d like to see covered in the future, as always, send me an email or reply to this post.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
P.S. Big announcement Monday, February 1 regarding this site.
