Chronic Illness in Sports

INTRODUCTION There is a moment that happens for a lot of athletes, sometimes after an injury, sometimes after a diagnosis, sometimes after hitting a wall that no amount of training could have prepared them for, where everything shifts. The focus stops being entirely about performance and starts being about something bigger. About telling the truth. About making sure the next person does not have to figure it out alone. That moment is becoming more common. And the athletes who

INTRODUCTION When we talk about what it takes to compete at the highest level, we talk about talent. We talk about work ethic, coaching, genetics, and opportunity. What we rarely talk about is what it takes to do all of that while your own body is working against you every single day. For athletes living with chronic illness: Crohn's disease, lupus, type 1 diabetes, ulcerative colitis, and others, that is not a hypothetical. It is Tuesday morning. It is game day. It is every