 This year alone, 70,000 new cases will be diagnosed, and more and more of those are children. Nearly 75% of patients with Crohn's disease will require one or more surgeries at some point in their lives. Those are the facts, but they don't speak to the daily realities of living with Crohn's or colitis. Excruciating pain, a lifetime of medication, and days when they can't even get out of bed. There's a good chance you know someone suffering with Crohn's or colitis. Someone like me.