Robert Porter is on a mission to raise awareness for Crohn’s Disease… by eating pasta for FIFTY days straight!
Porter has been officially diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease for five years, but has possibly been suffering for about seven. “I’d gotten to the point where I had severe internal bleeding and had lost 35-40 pounds.” He says, “Looking back, I was probably a lot closer to death than I realized.”
Michelle, his fiancée, helped him through the flareup and to remission. “She helped me take control of my symptoms,” He declares. Porter is currently on Humira and has been in remission since last summer (2013). “I’m hoping I stay in remission until they find a cure.”
So what brought on this quest to eat pasta, specifically from Olive Garden for fifty days? “I’ve come across a lot of people my age or younger who not only suffer in silence, but are afraid to speak up,” Porter says. He also says that he doesn’t want anyone to feel like they need to suffer alone. Olive Garden was offering 1,000 endless pasta passes that you could buy for $100. It entitles the cardholder to unlimited pasta for 7 weeks (49 days).
“I thought it would be funny just to get one because everyone knows how much I love to eat!” Says Porter. And then his coworkers got involved and decided to help him acquire one of these passes. There was only one stipulation: He had to eat at Olive Garden EVERY DAY until the pass ran out.
Porter says he thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion that it was not only a great idea, but he could use this opportunity to raise awareness!
But wait a minute, I thought the pass was for 49 days! It is, but Porter is also taking a to-go box of pasta for his lunches, and that will continue into day number 50!
He’s only about a week and a half into it, and so far he’s still enjoying his pasta. He’s even got something up his sleeve. From now until October 9th, you could win your own 7 weeks of unlimited pasta. How? Donate to CCFA, of course! For more information, click here.
If you’d like, you can follow Porter on Twitter, like his Facebook page and check out his blog. Please help support another IBDer in his mission to raise awareness.
