The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

PARTICIPATION numbers exceeded expectations last Saturday, as many Bahamians made it a priority to take part in the second annual Megan Louise Sands Ostomy Foundation’s Fun Run/Walk.

The 5K fun run/walk started at the Montague Foreshore where information booths were available to educate the attendees on the cause. Proceeds from the event go towards helping ostomy patients in need through the MLS Foundation Patient Assistance Programme, which supplies patients with ostomy supplies that are vital to living a healthy, productive life. Through the inaugural fun run/walk and fundraising last year they were able to provide over 26 patients with supplies.

A person who has an ostomy knows that without vital supplies they will not have the quality of life they wish or the ability to live as freely as they want. There are hundreds of Bahamians today who are living with an ostomy – a surgically created opening from an internal organ, such as the intestine, to an external point on the body, usually in the abdomen. The three types of ostomies are colostomy, urostomy and ileostomy.

People with an ostomy use a heavy duty plastic pouch worn outside the body that is attached to the stomach. It serves the purpose of collecting urine and stools. Without much needed ostomy supplies many people are limited in their daily activities.

In 2006, Megan Sands, the foundation’s founder, suffered serious injuries after being in a jet-ski accident which resulted in her having to undergo a colostomy. She started the foundation to raise funds for those individuals who are living with an ostomy and are economically disadvantaged and require both financial and emotional support.

Persons can register for the patient assistance programme by contacting Island Ostomy and making an appointment for an assessment.

“Through the MLS Ostomy Foundation, there were systems put in place to assist persons with living normal everyday life without the fear of being stigmatised or thinking they will carry a scent,”

said Tisha Forbes, senior administrative officer of the MLS Ostomy Foundation.

“Knowing that there are so many persons that need supplies and can’t afford them because of the expense, we decided to do a fun run/walk to be able to gather supplies. Before when persons couldn’t afford the supplies, they would use a baggie/ziplock bag and tape to substitute for the actual appliance. We launched last year February and since then this foundation has been impacting the persons that need it.”

Ms Forbes said she still feels as though a lot of persons are not aware of what an ostomy is, and there is still more to be done as it relates to awareness.

“One of our major problems was that the persons that have the ostomy still have that psychological problem with not embracing it. I can tell you what an ostomy is, but it’s more profound coming from a person that has it. Persons often get it from dramatic injury or an accident during surgery, so they weren’t expecting to have an ostomy when they come out of surgery. So we were able to help them financially with supplies,” she said.

At the fun/run walk, Ms Forbes said they had a few ostomates come out and support, but not the mass majority. For her, being a part of the event for the second time around was great because they have gotten more corporate sponsors on board this time around, which made the event bigger.

She believes not enough attention is being brought to raising awareness as it relates to ostomy, and a lot of persons believe it cannot happen to them, which is not the case.

“Usually when you hear about a person being shot or stabbed several times, they end up with an ostomy. Even people that go in for a C-section, they sometimes come out with an ostomy. It can happen to any of us, so I feel as though a lot of people need to be educated more, and know that even if you have it, it doesn’t mean life ends. We plan to have mini health fairs through Nassau for the remainder of the year, spreading the awareness,” said Ms Forbes.

While Social Services help where they can, they cannot help everyone, she said. That is why the MLS Ostomy Foundation is grateful to be able to host events like the fun run/walk and provide others solutions to persons in need.

“Our motto is living life without limitations, and we mean that, so I think the fun run/walk is always important because this is our main event/fundraiser. Megan is a marathon junkie and she loves to race, so it was important to her to show her support in this way. When she had her accident, she didn’t know what to do and there wasn’t anybody to tell her anything. When she realised that she had her proper appliances, she started training again for marathons. There are a lot of people that think they can’t exercise or get sweaty, so this event also creates awareness in that aspect,” said Ms Forbes.