Lake Forest College News

I am a junior at Lake Forest College majoring in communications and minoring in politics. Thanks to donors I can pursue my academic and political ambitions both on and off campus.

Growing up in Wheeling, Illinois, I had few concerns regarding my health and future. I was always considered “the healthy child” while my younger brother, Trevor, suffered from epilepsy. However, when I was 11 years old, and after having moved to Vernon Hills, Illinois, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. It is a chronic, digestive illness that affects the entire digestive tract. I had never heard of this disease and had no idea how it would impact my future.

When I was 14 years old, my mom and I were shopping at a large retail store in the Chicagoland area when my Crohn’s started to flare. I had only a few minutes to get to a restroom, and when an employee told us that there were no public restrooms, he paged the manager. The manager claimed he knew about Crohn’s but repeatedly denied me access to the private restroom, saying he was making a “managerial decision.” My mom and I left the store angry and humiliated by the denial of a restroom. My mom promised that this would never happen to me or anyone else again, and at that point I knew who to call: Illinois State Representative Kathy Ryg, whom I had met a couple months before while on an eighth grade class field trip to the state capitol.

For the next several months, I helped write a bill that stated that anyone with a medical emergency must be allowed access to a private restroom. My mom and I traveled to Springfield, Illinois, where we testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee. The bill passed unanimously through the Committee, House, and Senate. Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed the bill into law in August 2005, and it has since been called “Ally’s Law” or the “Restroom Access Act.” It has passed in ten other states and is pending in several more.

While I was gaining experience in being a political activist, I was getting extremely sick from my illness and ended up having emergency surgery shortly before the end of my freshman year in high school. After my first near-death experience due to my perforated colon, I had another surgery during my sophomore year and my third during my junior year. Since my three surgeries, my disease has been in remission, allowing me to appreciate life more and to enjoy the experiences as a college student that I was too sick to enjoy as a high school student.

I chose Lake Forest College because I knew it would be supportive of my advocacy work and would understand if I needed to miss some class due to my disease becoming active. When I visited, I loved the campus, small student body, professors, and location. I also appreciated that students could make an impact there and that the College, in turn, would value student leadership and initiative. Having been at the College for two years now, I am still so proud to be attending this school, as I am still finding ways to make an impact. As of now, I am involved in several organizations, including Art Club, S.N.A.P., American Marketing Association, and Hillel. I am also working with the College’s health center to put together programs focusing on nutrition and stress. In addition, I am organizing a group for people with digestive illnesses so that they can feel comfortable knowing others on campus who understand and can socialize with them.

Off campus, I have continued acting as a liaison for people in other states interested in getting the Restroom Access Act passed in their states. I have also begun seeking passage of the legislation on a federal level by contacting Illinois Senator Dick Durbin’s office. Two summers ago, I put together a book proposal and sent it to a book agent in New York who accepted it. The book will be a personal memoir about my experiences with Crohn’s disease and how the legislation got passed, and it will be called, I Can’t Wait. Some of my other hobbies include painting, reading, and spending time with friends and family.

In the future, I will use my initiative, passion, and resourcefulness to continue to make an impact in any career I pursue. I know that my Lake Forest College degree will be advantageous in my endeavors. I hope to go to Northwestern University for graduate school. I also hope to continue my work as a political advocate while also becoming involved in a field relating to communications and marketing. I have had a lot of experience working with nonprofit organizations, so I plan to continue with that as well.

Whatever my future holds, I am confident and grateful that it is, in part, because of many donors’ generosity and initiative. They have allowed me to continue to pursue my goal of encouraging a culture of empowerment. Since the success of the law, I have learned that one voice can really make a difference. And, just as one voice can really make a difference, so can one donation.