Patient and his wife create support platform for people affected by inflammatory bowel disease (IBDrelief)

After being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) in 2008, Seb spent many years unaware of exactly what UC was and the impacts it could have on his life. He decided to start doing some research to learn more about inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and change elements of his lifestyle to try to improve the debilitating symptoms he was living with, despite his medications. He found the information available overwhelming. It was very fragmented and in so many different places. It was often conflicting or very complicated. But, as he started to gradually filter through it, he found some of it was incredibly useful in helping to improve his quality of life.

To try to make life easier for others affected by IBD to find this information and make their own decisions about it, Seb and his wife Emily decided to create a support platform for those living with IBD....and in 2015 IBDrelief was born!
IBDrelief.com is for everyone and anyone affected by IBD - this includes people who have IBD, their families, their friends, healthcare professionals and researchers. The goal is to support, inform, connect and educate people about IBD, as well as improve the quality of life for those affected by it. This includes services as:
- Creation of digital solutions, and patient education and support materials
- Patient engagement
- Patient recruitment for studies and trials
- Campaigns and PR
- Market research and insights
- Keynote speaking and mentoring for disease awareness

To help with the start up costs Seb and Emily ran a successful crowdfunding campaign in August 2015. The money raised from the campaign went towards building the website and developing the first pieces of content. The site was launched in February 2016 and since then has received over 4 million page views from around the world and counting. IBDrelief now employs several people with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Adapted from: https://www.ibdrelief.com/