May 7, 2025 • 41 mins
What happens when your chronic illness becomes the catalyst for global exploration and environmental advocacy? This week we talk to Nicholas Mertens! Nick was diagnosed with Crohn's disease six years ago and he's turned his health journey into a platform for investigating how climate change impacts healthcare systems worldwide.
While most college students rarely venture beyond their comfort zones, Nick has represented his university at United Nations climate conferences in Dubai and Azerbaijan, researched indigenous biodiversity in Australia, and traveled to eight countries across four continents—all while managing his Crohn's disease. The political science and environmental studies major shares his remarkable journey from diagnosis to long-term remission, revealing how these experiences shaped his understanding of global health challenges.
The conversation takes fascinating turns as Nick details the practicalities of international travel with a chronic condition. From refrigerating Humira during 40-hour journeys to navigating customs with medication documentation, his strategies are invaluable for anyone with IBD considering travel. His culinary adventures prove equally enlightening—discovering his body tolerated exotic kangaroo meat perfectly while rejecting familiar McDonald's hamburgers in foreign countries. These unexpected reactions highlight the unpredictable nature of Crohn's and the importance of flexibility when managing the condition abroad.
Nick's involvement with the Young Patients Autoimmune Research and Empowerment Alliance (YP-AREA) demonstrates his commitment to supporting other young people with chronic conditions. This growing organization creates educational resources specifically for adolescents and young adults navigating autoimmune diseases—demographics often overlooked in medical literature and research.
Listen as Nick shares his powerful perspective on remission, defining it not by lab results but by quality of life and regaining control over your condition. His parting wisdom reminds us that climate change and healthcare are "inextricably linked," and understanding these connections is crucial for anyone living with chronic illness in our rapidly changing world.
Links:
- Young Patients Autoimmune Empowerment Alliance (YP-AREA) Instagram
- YP- AREA YouTube- Video of the transitioning to adult care webinar they held with friend-of-the-show, Dr. Jordan Shapiro
- Traveling with prescription medications- US Customs and Border Control
- Traveling with IBD- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation USA
- IBD Passport- nonprofit with advice on traveling abroad with IBD
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Alicia and I'm Robin, and you're listening
to Bowel Moments, the podcastsharing real talk about the
realities of IBD Serve on therocks.
This week we had a greatconversation with Nicholas
Martins.
Nick is an undergraduatestudent with Crohn's disease
who's studying political andenvironmental sciences.
(00:20):
We talked to him about his worklooking at how healthcare
impacts the environment.
We talked to him about all ofthe travels that he's been able
to do in his program, includingsome very interesting culinary
opportunities, and we talked tohim about his involvement with
YP Area, which is the YoungPatients Autoimmune Research and
Empowerment Alliance nonprofitorganization, and we talked to
him about what his plans are nowthat he's about to graduate.
(00:41):
We know you're going to lovethis conversation just as much
as we did.
Cheers.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Hi everybody, Welcome to Bound Moments.
This is Robin.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey guys, this is Alicia and we are absolutely
delighted to be joined byNicholas Mertens.
Did I say that right?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, you got it right.
Usually people don't, so that'sperfect.
Hi everyone, my name is NickMertens and thank you for having
me today on the podcast.
I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, we are excited to have you as well, but our
first unprofessional questionfor you is what are you drinking
?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Okay.
So I put a lot of thought intothis, which is like five minutes
, and it was what I hadavailable in the fridge.
But I was feeling kind ofsummery so I you know the Arnold
Palmer half and half like drink.
So tonight I decided that I'mgoing to go and try to feel a
little summer and get a littlebit of lemonade and iced tea
together and it's, it's, it'shitting pretty good.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I love a good Arnie Palmy.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, you know, they're just, they're good Like
ninety, nine cents.
It don't matter, they just slap.
Yes, I don't do.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
They just slap.
Yes, I don't do it very oftenbecause I typically like I will
only get it if I'm out to eat.
But you know I don't havetypically iced tea and lemonade
at home.
But once I do it I was like whydon't I drink this more?
This is good.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Literally Are y'all having anything tonight I'm
having some hot tea.
I'm having some ginger tea andI put a little honey in it tea.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I'm having some ginger tea and I put a little
honey in it.
Alicia, what are you drinking?
It's mint tea.
And then I also, nick, as yousaid, like unfortunately three
seconds before I ran up here, Ialso grabbed a Waterloo
nectarine raspberry to drink.
They're tasty, I'm happy.
So next question for you whatis your IBD story?
What brought you into ourcommunity?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, you know it's been.
It's been a hell of a journeyit's.
I actually just celebrated mysixth year of diagnosis a day
ago.
So thank you, thank you all,for having me on.
This is like my littlecelebration anniversary.
This is one I don't forget.
And so my story kind of startsrather slowly burns and then
(02:39):
it's kind of been a long termremission.
So back when I was like asophomore in high school I'm 22
for all the listeners at home,so I'm getting old but when I
was about in sophomore year orso of high school, I started
having these stomach pains andat first, you know, I just
thought it was like some sort ofdietary thing.
So, you know, it could begluten, it could be meat,
(03:01):
whatever.
You've heard it all.
And so originally I, you knowthe first signs came because I
was donating blood.
We had blood drives at schooland you know I was noticing they
were like, yeah, your ironlevel's low, you've lost 15
pounds of weight.
My appetite didn't feel thesame.
And then eventually you knowthis is around Christmas time I
started going between havinghyperthermia and hypothermia, so
(03:25):
like swings every couple ofweeks where I'd have, you know,
a temperature of 102, 103, downto like temperatures of 95.
Right, so clearly something wasgoing on, right.
And so we went into urgent careafter probably about a month,
or probably two to four weeks ofthis, because you know it
happened in slow cycles.
And so we went in and, you know, at first they checked for
(03:48):
append.
You know, like your appendix isabout to go boom.
And the doctor's like, yeah,your appendix isn't about to go
boom, but we have no idea whyyour stomach is feeling like
this or why any of this ishappening.
So it ended up being we wentfrom urgent care straight to the
ER.
Right At first I was allchipper because I'm like, oh,
they're not going to findanything.
And then they do more blood work.
(04:08):
And then all of a suddenthey're like, yeah, so we're
going to have to do a CT scan onyou because you might have
leukemia.
So, yeah, so like, totally likeyou know, roundabout.
And at the time I didn'tunderstand any of this because,
you know, sophomore me was justmore focused on getting home to
play my video games.
So you know, I was kind of justchilling in the lobby while my
(04:29):
mom is like freaking out textingmy dad like oh my gosh, what's
going on?
And I vividly remember alsothat it was Hockaday Minnesota
on the TV.
So whenever Hockaday it's aMinnesotan thing, you have to be
Minnesotan to understand.
But whenever you see it, thoughit's, whenever I hear that I
always think of my Crohn'sdiagnosis.
So get the CT scan, it comesback, I have Crohn's, and then
(04:57):
eventually, after going through,they put me on some antibiotics
in a banana bag and all of asudden, you know, my symptoms
start improving.
Like that I go through acolonoscopy within the next
couple of days with a reallynice doctor and you know they're
like you have some some mild tomoderate, you know,
inflammation.
But what we're going to do iswe're going to put you on
azathioprine, some sort ofsteroid to help out with that,
(05:18):
some antibiotics, and theneventually start on Remicade.
So that went well until itdidn't.
I was on Remicade for about.
So they usually have forRemicade.
You typically start with like afour hour one, then a two hour
one, and they kind of work yourway up.
So they have you do threeinitial trials originally.
So I got through the threetrials and on the third one,
(05:40):
after the first two going well,I had an anaphylactic reaction
to it.
So that threw a huge curveballand like, what was I thinking?
What was I going to do?
And so eventually we worked andbrainstormed and I ended up on
Humira, the like injectable penthat y'all have.
And so since then it's now beensix years I've been doing
Humira biweekly.
(06:01):
I got off azathioprine fouryears ago now and, outside of my
vitamin D levels fluctuating,I've been in long-term remission
since.
So it's, you know, it'sdefinitely been an uphill battle
.
Sometimes you got to be carefulof what you eat.
But ever since having thatoriginal diagnosis, I really
have felt so lucky and blessedto you know.
You know to be in this longterm remission and I've had
(06:24):
colonoscopies.
They come back well, but reallythis whole thing is like for me
for a while it was I just wantto stay in remission.
I don't want to make Crohn'slike a big part of my
personality.
It's I want to act normal, ifyou will.
That continues into college.
I'm an environmental studiesand poli sci major, so for one
thing that's kind of came intomy research is how does health
(06:45):
and climate change intersect?
And surprisingly, we're goingto get into this later there's a
lot of different stuffhappening, so part of that was
joining YP Area or a youngpatients research advocacy group
and that so far has reallyhelped me kind of put pen to
paper on what I've experienced.
And I've also been fortunateenough to go to the UN twice and
(07:06):
travel to eight other countriesto explore on four different
continents about how doesclimate change and health
intersect and what does it meanto travel with Crohn's in
long-term remission.
So that's kind of my story.
Like you know, tldr, but yeahit's been one of remission but
kind of learning where do I fitin the world?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Wow, that is so super , super cool.
I'm so excited to hear moreabout your travels and all of
your trips to UN and everythinglike that.
So just go straight there andenlighten me please.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So let me back up.
So the Paris Climate Accordsare like the big climate change
treaty.
You probably heard of it before.
It's where every country in theworld until recently signed on
saying that they were going totry to get rid of climate change
or at least try to negate it,and this is backed by not only
the UN, but also the WorldHealth Organization, imf, a lot
(07:56):
of other things.
What a lot of schools do, or alot of universities, is they
send students to this, where thecountry delegates meet, where
other scientists meet, wherebusiness leaders meet to talk
about climate change and whateach little country is doing and
how it fits into the biggerpicture.
So it's called COP, and I'vebeen lucky enough to go twice,
one in Dubai, the United ArabEmirates, and the other time in
(08:18):
Baku, azerbaijan, which bordersIran, russia and is in the
Caucasus.
Both of those countries are oildrilling countries, so they
both bring a unique perspectiveinto how climate change impacts
everything and, at least duringmy travels there, a lot of
health is an integral part.
I mean, the World HealthOrganization mentions that it's.
You know it's intersectionalright.
(08:40):
As temperatures increase and,like definitely in more global
southern parts of the world, yousee people having higher heat
mortality.
You see people that are more,that are already vulnerable,
being more vulnerable alreadybecause the resources aren't
there compared to like the us oreu or australia, right, or the
other things too is.
You also see, young people arereally the ones that are causing
(09:01):
a ruckus in this space.
So so in COP 28,.
You know, protests usuallyaren't allowed in the UAE, but
you would see people insidethese UN delegation zones of,
like, young people my age oryounger, protesting about health
and how we need to make surenot only we have a clean
environment, because you knowanimals, but also because it's
(09:21):
important for mental health,it's important for the air you
breathe.
I mean, see the wildfires in LAand it's not just something
that happens in the US.
There was a huge declarationthat came out of Central Asia,
with Baku, where they were likea bunch of youth from six
different countries cametogether and declared that, like
these are demands from ourgovernment in the UN.
If you don't meet it, like thisis what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
So it's a it's a very changing space, but it's very
empowering too, if that makessense.
So that's kind of the UN onesat least.
Yeah, it does make sense andit's very cool to see young
people using their voices andnot, you know, waiting for
something to change, but reallydemanding change when it needs
to happen.
I'm curious, how did you getinvolved with this?
Like, how did you decide onclimate science and obviously
health?
I think may come from Crohn's,but I'm curious if that was sort
of the impetus to add the layerof health as it relates to
(10:12):
climate change into it, or likeyou know, trying to address it
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
So when I was going to college, I'm like, well damn,
I care about the environment,but I don't know where to go.
So eventually I got directedinto environmental studies and
then political science, becauseI'm a political junkie, but then
also, too, a lot of policiesintersected with
environmentalism and especiallylike health stuff too.
So as you take more classes, Itook a lot of ones that were on
(10:44):
like gender or you know, and yourealize that, like there's
already gender disparities whenit comes to how people interact
with climate change and theimpacts from that, but that's
also directly proportional tohealth.
It's like a triangle.
You know what?
If one falters, the otherfalters.
Right, health wasn't the thingthat I was going for.
In fact, it was something thatI was trying to stay away from,
(11:04):
but it's so intertwined witheverything you just kind of
stumble into it and it is whatit is and it's honestly quite
fascinating to learn.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, I think it makes sense for you to get
involved with it.
I know maybe you're trying toavoid it, but it does make sense
for you to go into it becausethen you have the background and
I do think you know there'sthere's layers to this as well.
Just even you know not just thesort of you know we're running
out of water and clean air andall the things and how that
affects people's health, butalso the impact of health on the
(11:33):
environment, like all of themedical waste that's produced,
all of the you know the wastethat's produced, as we're, you
know we're creating thesemedicines and and things like
that.
You know the science that goesinto dealing with health in and
of itself as part of the changeI would imagine, and something
to be looking at.
Wow, yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, no, and you are like spot on, because a lot of
you know, again, a lot of it'sso intersectional where you, if
you impact one area I meanmedical waste is a huge one
right now.
There's big pushes within the EUor even the World Health
Organization, and Baku actuallyjust had 163 countries sign not
the United States, though sayingthat they were going to try to
(12:11):
reduce medical waste withinsustainability and try to reach
net zero, which that's a wholeother ballpark, but at least
that they were going to try toreduce their sustainability to
neutral carbon emissions, right.
So I mean that's a huge thing.
And even, too, if you look at,like some of the research that's
coming out right now, you seethat, like young people are
(12:32):
being, are going to be, the onesimpacted by the decisions we
make today, especially when itcomes to, like clean air,
whatnot.
It's either we're going to betaking care of our parents, or
when we're trying to raise ourfamilies, or whatever dynamic a
person wants to have in their30s or 40s.
You know they're going todirectly be dealing with those
consequences.
So, and going back tohealthcare, again you know it's
(12:53):
so intertwined and you know thisputs extra burdens on the
healthcare system.
So it's, you impact one, youimpact the other.
It's so it's so hard todescribe how, like you know Lego
pieces, they fit together.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So, when you were there, what was your role?
Were you observing, or did youhave a specific job, so to speak
, when you were there?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, no, that's a good question.
So when we were so as students,so there's like different
classes of badges that you getwhen you go to the UN.
So you get some that are likeyou know you're a delegate, so
you're the that are like youknow you're a delegate, so
you're the one that's, you know,signing for your country, and
then you have people that join.
So it's kind of like imaginethe state fair and then each
booth at the state fair has,like you know, the staff that
(13:34):
help run it.
Or they have like the expo andyou have those staff.
So now imagine each country inthe world has its own little
pavilion and its own littlestaff helping out as like kind
of showing what they're doing inlike a showroom.
So then they have likescientists, business people, you
know, like indigenous leaders,that sort of thing.
I was an observer, which meansthat I'm either a researcher or
(13:55):
a student that's going there toachieve some sort of thing.
So for me, when I was in Dubai,I researched how sovereign
wealth funds so like Saudi'slike big money investment, or
the UAE is big money investment,how that's being used in the
climate change, or, this year,research indigenous biodiversity
in Australia.
So you know, like you're kindof a student, and then you get
(14:16):
to interact and you get to talkwith, like everyone from I
talked with the Prime Ministerof Norway on the Bahamas to a
couple years ago, to where youtalk to someone that has like a
little two acre farm, you know,in the middle of nowhere in,
like you know, azerbaijan.
So you really see a wholespectrum of people.
It's quite cool.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Explain to me how you landed on sovereign wealth
funds and indigenous people inAustralia for what you're
researching.
I mean, we do have indigenousfolks here in Minnesota.
I don't know if I needed topoint that out to you, but I'm
curious how you landed on those.
That seems like man.
How'd you get there?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
No, that's valid.
So with sovereign wealth funds.
So so since my professor kindof pushed to be like, since
you're going to, like the MiddleEast and the Gulf where there's
a bunch of oil, try to researchsomething where there's a lot
of, you know, oil, investmentand whatnot, and so over the
summer, I mean, I brainstormedeverything.
Originally I was going to lookat like oil companies and what
(15:12):
does their website say, but youknow, as an undergraduate,
that's kind of a tall order todo like a rhetoric analysis.
So I ended up being like youknow, why don't I just ask
people what they're, whatthey're doing and then just
write a little article on it?
So that's what I did.
So I settled on sovereignwealth funds, because 10% of all
the world's money today is inthose funds.
(15:32):
So I'm talking there's almost$12 trillion in these funds that
people invest in the othercompanies.
Norway, Singapore, China, SaudiArabia, Egypt, Alaska all have
these sovereign wealth fundsthat they use to invest in other
companies.
So if you want capital, theseare usually the people that you
talk with.
And then I also studied abroad,in Australia for six months, and
(15:55):
so this was in between, and soduring that time when I was in
Australia.
I'm really hoping to go to gradschool there because I fell in
love with the country whiledoing it and during that time,
one of the big things that wasstressed in my ecology class was
that indigenous knowledge is soimportant for targeting, you
know biodiversity conservation.
So being someone that you knowfor lack of better word, you
(16:18):
know fell in love with thecountry but then also, at the
same time, is looking at goingto grad school there, I thought
it was like a neat kind of thingto do, because I can do
Minnesota indigenous workwhenever that you know, like the
U of M.
But if you want to really lookat Australia, I mean you either
got to travel there or you gotto go to a conference like this.
So that was kind of my reasonsfor picking these and I got to
(16:39):
write papers.
They were quite fun.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Writing papers is fun as a Minnesotan as well, like
there's something much moreinteresting.
I'm with you it's much moreinteresting to go study like an
island, like that's soincredibly different than
Minnesota.
I'd much rather research thatas well.
I also happen to completelylove New Zealand, though I'm
just going to point that outthere.
So like, yeah, like I'll gothere any day and research, so
(17:03):
any excuse to go.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Hey, valid New Zealand.
I've been to Tasmania beforeand like down near New Zealand,
If you, if you got to go, yougot to go Like it's the coolest
thing ever.
It's so pretty.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yes, yeah, no, but my , my favorite place I've ever
been for sure, australia, NewZealand and Tasmania, whatever.
I want to switch gears a tinybit and bring us a little bit
back to so.
This is a lot of travel.
This is being in anothercountry for six months.
How do you manage that?
Like being on Humira, having tohave shots every other week,
(17:44):
and also like, do you have toworry about the food that you're
eating?
Like, how do you?
The flights are so long?
Like, how do you?
I need more information abouthow you prepare for travel, how
you prepare to live in anothercountry with the medications
that you're on.
Can you talk me through that alittle bit?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yes, and thank you for bringing that up, cause I
got like some insider tips thatI'm so excited to share.
So, first thing, at least withCrohn's, you never know when
Crohn's is just going to be apain in the ass, for lack of a
better term.
And so for me, whenever I eatairline food, it's never good.
It's like it's like Exxon Mobilin the Gulf of Mexico.
They just don't mix well.
(18:21):
So one thing that I always liketo do is regardless is pay
extra for the aisle seat.
Trust me, obviously the legroom is nice, but you also don't
have to worry about wakingpeople up to go do anything, and
on top of that, you also havethat chance to go use the
(18:42):
restroom if need be.
Right, and that is somethinghuge that I've done it.
And packing snacks as well, thatyou know are safe.
So for me, those are likegranola bars.
I love my sweets, so sweets too.
Or even like sometimes packinglike Doritos.
It sounds weird, they're notthe healthiest, but just having
calories sometimes is just whatyou need to just survive, cause
the longest flight I've done is15 hours, and when you're in a
(19:02):
little flying tube for that long, you have to prioritize your
own homeostasis over trying toyou know.
Uphold some diet that you cando on the ground if that makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That makes so much sense.
I always say eat what you cantolerate.
And if you can tolerate frenchfries, if that's what, like
potatoes, are your safe food.
Like we're not talking thatyou're going to eat french fries
for every meal for the rest ofyour life.
But I mean, maybe some of usare.
I don't know no judgment hereabout food.
I am a no judgment free zonewhen it comes to food.
(19:33):
But you have to.
You have to be able to eat foodthat you know you can tolerate.
And if that's Doritos, I meanit's delicious.
So literally.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
and it's so important too, because sometimes,
especially too, you also, whenyou fly, you have to drink a lot
of water, because you know thehumidity inside a flying tube an
airplane is only 10%.
Well, normal inside is 50 to 60.
So if you aren't stayinghydrated as well at least for me
, that exacerbates my Crohn'sright.
And at least when you're, youknow, defecating a lot, you're
(20:04):
losing fluids and electrolytes.
So eating calories, making sureyou get that, it's so essential
.
And then also to I think anotherkey thing is traveling with
Humira.
You have to keep itrefrigerated, right, like that,
that's just the nature of it.
And when you're living in acountry long term, like, let's
say, study abroad, you can'tship a medication from, like you
(20:25):
know, Minnesota and it just flyover to Sydney.
You can't do that, it's highlyillegal and you would be fined
thousands, if not tens ofthousands of dollars, right.
So when I went to Australia Ihad to pack my Humira in like a
little like door dash bag andthen I had to fly you know 40
hours of travel and make surethat it stayed at you know,
(20:47):
refrigerator temperatures.
So during that time it wasreally hard because I had to
work with insurance to get theapproval that I could bring the
right amount of Humira, and Iwill say, for that, one of the
key things I recommend is ifyou're doing an extended
vacation where you need thatmuch medication for that time,
one of the best things to do isyou can ask your insurance for
something called a vacationwaiver, and typically they will
(21:09):
give you something, or they willapprove it at least, where they
allow you to at least take moremedication.
That's what my GI did and itworked really well for me.
So I would recommend lookinginto that.
Otherwise too, you can talk tousually your pharmacy and they
might have some workarounds youcan do Next as well, when trying
to keep things refrigerated.
Using a refrigerated bag is soimportant because if you throw
(21:31):
it in like a normal little totebag or a plastic bag or whatever
, it's not going to stayrefrigerated and you have to
declare that customs too, andit's a lot easier for someone in
customs to look at your bagthat's refrigerated and realize
it's medication, versus a randomtarget bag that you're bringing
from Minnesota and it's like,no, I don't know if this is
legit.
So going through customs is awhole other spiel too, you know.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I'm curious like did you have to bring I'm assuming
you had to bring a letter fromyour doctor explaining what that
was, and they gave you likeyour whole supply for all six
months?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Yeah.
So I had to get, like I want tosay it was like I screwed up
because I only I shorted myselftwo pens.
So that's another thing tooabout travel is being able to be
adaptable is so important.
You know, like there was somelike I was supposed to have
eight pens total but I only hadsix, right.
And when you're in Australiaand you're not going back for
(22:26):
another six months, you kind ofhave to work with your doctor to
figure out what's going to workwell.
So being flexible and then alsobeing having honest
communication with your doctoris so important.
But then bringing it throughcustoms as well, that's
something else, because you needto have the original, you know,
the original casing for it.
You also need to have a notefrom your doctor, especially if
it's prescription or a biologic,describing what it is.
(22:48):
And then also with mostmedications too, they can't go
through the little x-ray scanneryou do at the airport because
that'll like change everything.
So or you know, like thepharmacology, if you will, of it
, so you have to do a hand swab.
There was one of my classmatesin the past sent theirs through
the little machine thingy and itruined their medication.
(23:10):
Thankfully it was not as severeas Crohn's right, it was
something more manageable.
But I mean still, could youimagine that you have, you know,
your $10,000 a month medicationand like that it's screwed up
because you put it through TSA.
So that's why it's like you gotto be careful and then, when
you get on the ground too, youhave just declare it, because
then you at least don't have topay fines and at least they'll
swab you and tell you you'regood.
So that was kind of my keything is just like declare it,
(23:32):
don't know how to go throughx-ways and just bring you know
documentation of everything.
I think that was just a keypart of this entire thing.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
So at some point I was working with some folks when
and they were looking to studyabroad and, depending on the
country, they they require youto have health insurance, like
to buy local health insurance,basically, and there's student
plans and things like that.
Is that like, did you have togo through that?
Like, how did you, how did yougo about preparing yourself to
understand, like, the healthcare requirements that you would
(24:00):
need in order to study abroad?
And then did you do anything tokind of make sure that you had
identified some doctors in itsounds like you're in Sydney
that were IBD specialists andjust just in case you would need
somebody there.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Yeah, you know and that's a great question and a YP
in you know, yp area, the youngpatients research advocacy
group that I work with andthey're so kind helped me out a
lot like figuring out some ofthe logistics of this, or at
least providing that moralsupport, and I would say one of
the key things is A, you'regoing to have to buy health
insurance.
And, b, usually if you studyabroad, you go through some sort
(24:35):
of provider, be it yourinstitution, literally the other
institution you're traveling at, or a nonprofit in between, and
usually they either havecontacts on the ground that'll
help you, and typically you paythem some and then they'll get
you the health insurance.
For me, when I was in Australia, I was actually on the West
(24:56):
Coast, in Perth I just usedSydney because people know that.
But when I was in Perth, though, I had to basically get like
something called Bupa, which wasbasically like a health
insurance thing that all peoplehave to get, and I had
specifically.
Australia is nice and it coverspre-existing conditions, but
let's say you were to travel byyourself to like Madrid or you
know, like you know independenttravel, and I would highly
(25:17):
recommend getting you knowtravel health insurance.
It's a policy is pretty cheap.
It's usually like, I meanrelative, of course, cheap.
It's like 100 bucks for, youknow, a two week vacation.
But one thing for sure to dowith that is, whenever you buy
the policy I always do it asclose as possible to when you
buy your plane tickets and thenalso to before you buy it make
(25:38):
sure that your you know preexisting conditions are covered,
because that Obama care clausedoes not fall under.
You know that they don't haveto follow the pre existing
conditions piece like normalhealth insurance does.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, unfortunately that is just a American health
plan thing and, frankly, we'llsee if that holds to be honest.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, agreed with that one.
Hope fingers crossed they fixthat, but we'll see.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So you've talked about the actual travel.
You talked about your snacks ontravel.
You talked about medicationswhen studying, studying abroad.
What about like food when youarrive, like when you're in the
uae or these arab countries,like, do you plan for that or
are you I, I don't know, myCrohn's is in my stomach, so
(26:23):
food is like a huge, like itmakes me nervous just thinking
about that because because of myCrohn's being my stomach, so
well, and the and this is not adig.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
I think this is one of the cool parts about
traveling and I think y'all willagree when you go to a
different country, you're notgoing to get the same stuff that
you would, you know, right downthe block, right?
So, especially going to like aplace like azerbaijan, spain
even, or like the united arabemirates, a lot of the food is
very different.
It's a lot of rice cooked inoil, a lot of complex spices.
You know, in Minnesota we'rebland, we think pepper and salt
(26:56):
are spices.
So going somewhere where theyuse, like right, like cumin,
turmeric, saffron, you know,like you know the stuff that you
see that you never cook withwhen that's commonplace, that
that's something where youreally got to sit back and be
like how am I going to react tothis?
Right?
So, like when I was inazerbaijan, I ate like a lot of
food and I'm not gonna lie, Ididn't make the smartest crones
(27:17):
decisions I like it was kind oflike I ate it and then two hours
later I'd hella regret it, butduring that time, it wasn't
delicious yes, that was, yes, itwas so good.
Sometimes deliciousness is worththe literal payoff, right.
But I, when, when, uh, when,traveling, though, it's always
(27:37):
something where I'm like I haveto look at the local cuisine or
go off of personal experience,because you know, like if some
cuisine is similar to others, orat least you can kind of figure
out general patterns.
So it's like it's being likeokay, I know my stomach
tolerates well, but I can't eatcamel, for an example.
You know what I mean.
Like I can't eat this, but Ican eat that, right.
So that was something that Ikind of played with and I'm like
(27:59):
okay, I also know that I can'teat a dish that's called by this
or has this sort of ingredientin it, and you can kind of tell
too.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You know what I mean now I'm curious what was the,
what was the craziest experiencethat you've had?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
oh god, okay I think.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
What was the dish?
I'm curious, no, so I've tried.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I mean, there were some foods that I'm surprised my
crones didn't react with.
Like when I was in australia, Iate kangaroo and emu and crones
loved it, no problem at all.
Right, I go to azerbaijan and Itry like they have.
Like sheep is a big thing inazerbaijan.
So I ate like different typesof like sheep and some my
(28:36):
stomach liked and others Ididn't.
It was literally throwing adart at the dartboard and just
hoping that it was a sheep thatmy crones tolerated, right.
So kangaroo, okay, sheep, no,like that was weird.
And then also cam.
I had camel just coming backfrom the uae less than a week
ago and totally cool.
But then I try eating a normalhamburger from mcdonald's over
(28:57):
there nope, that was bad.
Well, you know you can't.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Half the time you don't even know what's gonna
happen, you know wow, yeah, itis interesting that, like the,
it seems like the more exoticmeats you seem to deal well with
.
I wonder if, like you know, itkind of goes back to the whole
like farming culture, like withthe sheep, is there something
about the farming techniquesthat we're using that are you
know?
Are the sheep being fed, youknow, grains that have
(29:22):
glyphosates on it or GMO Like?
Is it a GMO kind of thing, likewhat is it perhaps about that
particular sheep?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
No, no, and that's a fair question.
I think part of it too was howit's prepared, because I like,
obviously, the type of sheep,and a lot there too, it was like
you know the specific, thegrains or you know the food that
they grace on is very differentthan what you'd get in.
Like the midwest right, likecow country over here, is very
different.
You know sheep country overthere and I, I think too, a lot,
a lot of it is very it was veryoily, like oily.
(29:56):
You know fried food, so verygood, but still fried, and so I
think eating a lot of that friedfood too is also very hard on
the stomach and at least for me,that's something I've noticed
Like I can't even eat Cajunanymore without having going
through some of those things aswell.
You know what I mean.
Just because the oil is sostrong.
But yeah, the food is one ofthe things that's most fun, but
like you never know how acountry is going to treat you
from their food, you know what Imean.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Very true, very true this is.
This is going to be a veryMidwest specific question for
you.
Having grown up in North Dakotaand having, you know, kind of
lived in in Minnesota and inrural places in Minnesota even,
I'm curious how the hell did youget to a point where you are
this person that's going outeating camel and like touring
all over the place?
This is not a normal.
(30:36):
You're not a normal Midwesternboy.
Tell me about where this, thisimpetus came.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Oh God, this goes back to when I was a kid, all
right, so when I was in thirdgrade, like we're going way back
.
So when I was in third thirdgrade, I thought that I was
gonna go live like in likeFlorida or California, so you
know like, and I wanted to gohelp the whales.
That was like my big thing,that I wanted to do.
And so, you know, I was helpedthe whales.
And then eventually in hall ofhigh school I was like dead set.
(31:03):
I applied, I almost wasconfirmed that I was going to
the University of Hawaii atManoa, like in in Honolulu, but
I ended up in Minnesota.
I made the right choice but I'mlike, damn, that would have
been cool.
I think a big thing for me isI've always had this drive to
want to see the world.
You know, like Minnesota iscozy.
It's a cozy place.
You can, you can be born here,you can raise a family here.
(31:25):
You know your rights are goingto be protected.
But at the end, you know, atthe end of the day, at the same
time, there's not a lot of,let's just say, cultural
diversity, at least within theMidwest, outside of maybe
Chicago or Detroit.
So for me I really wanted to gosee what does like a desert
look like, what does all thesethings look like, and then you
(31:45):
know.
So I was fortunate enough thatmy university has all these
study abroad programs and a lotof them are very nicely funded
by donors, and so I've reallytaken it on myself and I'm like,
if you, if I'm given thisopportunity by a law I'm Muslim,
so that's why I say that but,like, if I'm given this
opportunity by a law, then Imight as well just go through
each opportunity and just try mybest to see what I can about
(32:09):
the world, right.
So that's brought me.
I was on a diplomatic climatechange.
I haven't even mentioned this.
I was to the Bahamas and didlike a diplomatic climate change
event with their prime ministerprime minister's office, right.
So I've done everything fromthat Azerbaijan, the UAE, spain,
turkey, australia, right.
Like again, all these differentcountries, but they all fit
(32:32):
into this climate change healthumbrella and if you want like a
cohesive picture on how this isaffecting everyone, you need to
go to where they are and thenlisten to their stories.
I think that's the mostimportant thing and, at least as
a white dude as well, it's soimportant to hear other people's
stories because, like for 99%of history, you know, my
identity has been the onerunning shit, unfortunately.
(32:53):
So it's important to go seewhere it's at and learn from the
people that are actuallyexperiencing it.
I guess that's a part of it too.
I didn't even think of it likethat, but yeah, that makes any
sense.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Louder for the people in the back.
Yeah, that is incrediblyenlightening and you make me,
you make me have hope for theworld.
Okay, so next question for youis I want to ask a little bit
more about I found YP areaactually through my mom shout
(33:41):
outs to all moms out there.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
One thing is, she found this Facebook like ad
asking for young adults tosubmit an application.
I did, I didn't think much ofit and then I got accepted into
it after going through aninterview.
And you know the experience atfirst I wasn't, honestly, I
wasn't expecting much outside of.
This is just another way for meto kind of vocalize my crones
and you know, like, just talkabout it.
But they've been so helpfulbecause, you know, yp Area's big
mission is about finding anddisseminating research to, you
(34:07):
know, young adults, adolescents,usually a demographic that's
really been ignored in theliterature, you know, in the
academic literature, of course.
But then also, how do you likedoctors, how do you have this
conversation with young patientsabout what they're going
through?
Like?
For me, when I first gotdiagnosed, I was at an adult
practice as a pediatric, youknow, as a pediatric patient, so
(34:28):
the doctor was treating me asif I was an adult.
But I had to go through alllike you know it was.
You know what I mean.
It was like this weird kind ofguys.
So for me it was kind of nicethat I've lived through this at
least.
And now, to put this inperspective.
So YP Area has just really beenfocusing on trying to increase
the engagement with, with thisdemographic, and I think one
(34:49):
thing that's just been soempowering for me is I'm part,
so we have three different aims,so each one is focused on, like
, research, dissemination, youknow, creating materials, you
know logistics, you know allthat kind of stuff, and so the
one that I'm on is the one thatdoes a lot of our PR kind of
stuff, like the Instagramoutreach, making connections
with other, you know, nonprofits, etc.
(35:10):
And I think, so far, though,it's just been so enlightening
to be able to work on a campaignthat's ran by young adults with
supportive faculty, reallypushing for this research and
getting people involved.
We're still growing.
We're still quite small, butwe're growing and we're still
mighty, and, yeah, it's justit's been really rewarding.
I've been with them for about ayear and a half now.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Is it open to students across the country, or
is it just schools in Minnesota?
Like what, how?
What is the reach?
Speaker 3 (35:38):
No, and that's a great question.
We have a lot of geographicdiversity, so we've got everyone
from Cali to New York city, soanyone within the contiguous U?
S and, honestly, we've acceptedpeople from Canada before.
So anyone from the contiguous U?
S or Canada is more thanwelcome to apply or apply, or at
least you know when we'relooking for members again.
(35:59):
But I, you know, we the one ofthe things that YP area and you
know Christine and Courtney havereally tried to do, that's the,
that's our faculty members thathelp lead this, you know,
project, and one of the bigthings that they focused on is
getting diversity, bothgeographically, of course, but
then also with an identity, sothat we create inclusive
environment for everyone, and atleast having people from across
(36:20):
the nation is one damn good wayof getting diversity.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Well, and you don't have to be a student, right,
isn't it, that you can also justbe a young person that isn't
necessarily a student.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, and I didn't sorry, sorry if I said student,
that's just a habit for me.
But yeah, you don't have to bea student either, because we
really cater to anyone that'sbetween like the ages of you
know, like between 16, 17, allthe way to 24.
And you don't need to be astudent.
You can be someone that's stillin high school, entering the
workforce.
Maybe you're in limbo somewhere, but regardless, though, you
(36:50):
don't need to be like a collegestudent talking about your
health.
You can be someone that you canjust be someone that's just.
You know you're working yourjob and it's something you're
curious about.
This is the perfect avenue totry to learn more about what you
can do and also maybe how toget better access to the care
that you deserve, if that makessense.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Absolutely.
When you first got togetherwith this group of folks from
kind of all over the place, whatwould you say are like the top
five things that they identifiedthat were priority, like areas
to disseminate information on.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
You know, there were quite a few things that we were
trying to do, because we getlike different awards, you know,
like grant awards and whatnot,and so, you know, one of the big
things, at least, that Iremember working on specifically
was, you know, we were tryingto increase our outreach.
That was one big thing is justtrying to interact with more
people.
However, that may be.
One big thing too that wereally focused on was trying to
host these like social events,like a like a zoom event or a
(37:44):
zoom lecture about.
You know, we was kind ofsetting up the infrastructure
and we actually did host onelast year, last year 2024, one
on health insurance and anotherone on like doctor patient
conversation.
So that was another like bigsuccess that we have.
So those were two big things atleast, and I think another piece
, too, at least, was creatingmore collaborations with I don't
(38:08):
know if I'm at Liberty to nameour partnerships.
You know just, I'm not sure ifI am, but I will say one of the
big things that we did is wewere trying to also collaborate
more with different NGOs ornonprofits to try to create more
, you know, awareness about whatwe're doing but also what
they're doing as well and seewhere young patients fit into
this greater, you know, likehealth.
(38:29):
You know like this greaterhealthcare conversation, be it
Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis,you know even diabetes.
You name it, we've done it.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
That's great, and I know one of our past guests, dr
Jordan Shapiro, was one of thedoctors that was on the webinar.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
That's a cool connection, yeah, and that was a
great webinar too, and DrShapiro did so well with that it
was.
I remember watching it at leastI was really tired after work,
but it was really interesting towatch nevertheless, and it was
good to actually see it happenin execution.
So that was one of the thingsthat we really focused on and
going forward.
We would like to host more ofthose.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I am sad, nick, to have to ask you this, because
I've loved talking to you andI've loved hearing your stories,
but it is, in fact, time for meto ask you our last question.
So what is the one thing thatyou want the IBD community to
know?
What's the advice that you havefor us?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
I think the big thing for me that like just listening
to this and this is the onething you can take away is one
climate change and health are soinextricably linked and even if
you don't think that climatechange will affect you in any
way, or maybe you will, maybeyou've seen it, you know, but
regardless, you know climatechange, healthcare, it's so, in
you know, inextricably linked.
It pays to know about both.
But I think another thing tooand this is more personal to me
(39:45):
is that remission can look likea bunch of different things for
a lot of different people andthat even when you're at the
lowest low, it's still possible.
For me, I think something thatreally helped with my doctor was
saying remission isn't whatcomes out of your blood work or
what you see in your diagnosis.
It's about the quality of lifeand feeling that you have
control over someone, somethingelse, having control.
(40:06):
So for me, a big thing for meis one thing that I try to take.
Control is, you know, travelingto eight countries within the
last one and a half years.
But that can look likesomething else for you.
You know, if that something istaking up a new hobby, go for it
.
If that's going to universityor getting that new job, or even
just leaving the house for thefirst time and doing the little
(40:27):
steps, that's all that matters.
Remission is not a final endall be all.
It's rather a process that youget to and then that's something
that you are happy with withwherever you are.
It evolves over time, just likeyou.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Wise words.
Nick Wise words.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Thank you.
And also, yp Area is amazingand our Instagram is super cool.
You guys should go check it out.
But yeah, anyway, though,that's the end of my spiel.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
We will link to the YP area in the show notes
everyone.
So if you are a young personthat's looking to get involved
or just wants to follow theirsocial media, it's educational,
it is a very great social media.
So thank you for your work onthat, nick.
So we'll link to that in theshow notes.
Take a look at that.
We'll make sure we link YP areaalso in our Instagram, robin,
if we can, when we post for Nick.
(41:12):
Absolutely, nick.
What an absolute delight to getto know you, and I'm sad that
you're not in St Paul so wecould have done this in person,
but that's okay.
We'll have to figure outanother time to get together.
But thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show.
We really appreciate yousharing your obvious passion for
climate change and health andgiving me back some hope for the
(41:33):
world.
I especially appreciate thattoday.
So thank you for being on theshow.
Thank you everybody else forlistening and cheers everybody.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Cheers everybody.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Cheers.
My Arnie is now gone, but I'llpretend to drink it.
Hi, this is Nicholas Mertens,and if you enjoyed this episode,
please rate, review, subscribeand share bowel movements with a
friend.
Thank you for joining everyoneand have a great day.
Hi, I'm Alicia and I'm Robin, and you're listening
to Bowel Moments, the podcastsharing real talk about the
realities of IBD Serve on therocks.
This week we had a greatconversation with Nicholas
Martins.
Nick is an undergraduatestudent with Crohn's disease
who's studying political andenvironmental sciences.
(00:20):
We talked to him about his worklooking at how healthcare
impacts the environment.
We talked to him about all ofthe travels that he's been able
to do in his program, includingsome very interesting culinary
opportunities, and we talked tohim about his involvement with
YP Area, which is the YoungPatients Autoimmune Research and
Empowerment Alliance nonprofitorganization, and we talked to
him about what his plans are nowthat he's about to graduate.
(00:41):
We know you're going to lovethis conversation just as much
as we did.
Cheers.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Hi everybody, Welcome to Bound Moments.
This is Robin.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey guys, this is Alicia and we are absolutely
delighted to be joined byNicholas Mertens.
Did I say that right?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, you got it right.
Usually people don't, so that'sperfect.
Hi everyone, my name is NickMertens and thank you for having
me today on the podcast.
I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, we are excited to have you as well, but our
first unprofessional questionfor you is what are you drinking
?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Okay.
So I put a lot of thought intothis, which is like five minutes
, and it was what I hadavailable in the fridge.
But I was feeling kind ofsummery so I you know the Arnold
Palmer half and half like drink.
So tonight I decided that I'mgoing to go and try to feel a
little summer and get a littlebit of lemonade and iced tea
together and it's, it's, it'shitting pretty good.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I love a good Arnie Palmy.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, you know, they're just, they're good Like
ninety, nine cents.
It don't matter, they just slap.
Yes, I don't do.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
They just slap.
Yes, I don't do it very oftenbecause I typically like I will
only get it if I'm out to eat.
But you know I don't havetypically iced tea and lemonade
at home.
But once I do it I was like whydon't I drink this more?
This is good.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Literally Are y'all having anything tonight I'm
having some hot tea.
I'm having some ginger tea andI put a little honey in it tea.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I'm having some ginger tea and I put a little
honey in it.
Alicia, what are you drinking?
It's mint tea.
And then I also, nick, as yousaid, like unfortunately three
seconds before I ran up here, Ialso grabbed a Waterloo
nectarine raspberry to drink.
They're tasty, I'm happy.
So next question for you whatis your IBD story?
What brought you into ourcommunity?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, you know it's been.
It's been a hell of a journeyit's.
I actually just celebrated mysixth year of diagnosis a day
ago.
So thank you, thank you all,for having me on.
This is like my littlecelebration anniversary.
This is one I don't forget.
And so my story kind of startsrather slowly burns and then
(02:39):
it's kind of been a long termremission.
So back when I was like asophomore in high school I'm 22
for all the listeners at home,so I'm getting old but when I
was about in sophomore year orso of high school, I started
having these stomach pains andat first, you know, I just
thought it was like some sort ofdietary thing.
So, you know, it could begluten, it could be meat,
(03:01):
whatever.
You've heard it all.
And so originally I, you knowthe first signs came because I
was donating blood.
We had blood drives at schooland you know I was noticing they
were like, yeah, your ironlevel's low, you've lost 15
pounds of weight.
My appetite didn't feel thesame.
And then eventually you knowthis is around Christmas time I
started going between havinghyperthermia and hypothermia, so
(03:25):
like swings every couple ofweeks where I'd have, you know,
a temperature of 102, 103, downto like temperatures of 95.
Right, so clearly something wasgoing on, right.
And so we went into urgent careafter probably about a month,
or probably two to four weeks ofthis, because you know it
happened in slow cycles.
And so we went in and, you know, at first they checked for
(03:48):
append.
You know, like your appendix isabout to go boom.
And the doctor's like, yeah,your appendix isn't about to go
boom, but we have no idea whyyour stomach is feeling like
this or why any of this ishappening.
So it ended up being we wentfrom urgent care straight to the
ER.
Right At first I was allchipper because I'm like, oh,
they're not going to findanything.
And then they do more blood work.
(04:08):
And then all of a suddenthey're like, yeah, so we're
going to have to do a CT scan onyou because you might have
leukemia.
So, yeah, so like, totally likeyou know, roundabout.
And at the time I didn'tunderstand any of this because,
you know, sophomore me was justmore focused on getting home to
play my video games.
So you know, I was kind of justchilling in the lobby while my
(04:29):
mom is like freaking out textingmy dad like oh my gosh, what's
going on?
And I vividly remember alsothat it was Hockaday Minnesota
on the TV.
So whenever Hockaday it's aMinnesotan thing, you have to be
Minnesotan to understand.
But whenever you see it, thoughit's, whenever I hear that I
always think of my Crohn'sdiagnosis.
So get the CT scan, it comesback, I have Crohn's, and then
(04:57):
eventually, after going through,they put me on some antibiotics
in a banana bag and all of asudden, you know, my symptoms
start improving.
Like that I go through acolonoscopy within the next
couple of days with a reallynice doctor and you know they're
like you have some some mild tomoderate, you know,
inflammation.
But what we're going to do iswe're going to put you on
azathioprine, some sort ofsteroid to help out with that,
(05:18):
some antibiotics, and theneventually start on Remicade.
So that went well until itdidn't.
I was on Remicade for about.
So they usually have forRemicade.
You typically start with like afour hour one, then a two hour
one, and they kind of work yourway up.
So they have you do threeinitial trials originally.
So I got through the threetrials and on the third one,
(05:40):
after the first two going well,I had an anaphylactic reaction
to it.
So that threw a huge curveballand like, what was I thinking?
What was I going to do?
And so eventually we worked andbrainstormed and I ended up on
Humira, the like injectable penthat y'all have.
And so since then it's now beensix years I've been doing
Humira biweekly.
(06:01):
I got off azathioprine fouryears ago now and, outside of my
vitamin D levels fluctuating,I've been in long-term remission
since.
So it's, you know, it'sdefinitely been an uphill battle
.
Sometimes you got to be carefulof what you eat.
But ever since having thatoriginal diagnosis, I really
have felt so lucky and blessedto you know.
You know to be in this longterm remission and I've had
(06:24):
colonoscopies.
They come back well, but reallythis whole thing is like for me
for a while it was I just wantto stay in remission.
I don't want to make Crohn'slike a big part of my
personality.
It's I want to act normal, ifyou will.
That continues into college.
I'm an environmental studiesand poli sci major, so for one
thing that's kind of came intomy research is how does health
(06:45):
and climate change intersect?
And surprisingly, we're goingto get into this later there's a
lot of different stuffhappening, so part of that was
joining YP Area or a youngpatients research advocacy group
and that so far has reallyhelped me kind of put pen to
paper on what I've experienced.
And I've also been fortunateenough to go to the UN twice and
(07:06):
travel to eight other countriesto explore on four different
continents about how doesclimate change and health
intersect and what does it meanto travel with Crohn's in
long-term remission.
So that's kind of my story.
Like you know, tldr, but yeahit's been one of remission but
kind of learning where do I fitin the world?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Wow, that is so super , super cool.
I'm so excited to hear moreabout your travels and all of
your trips to UN and everythinglike that.
So just go straight there andenlighten me please.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So let me back up.
So the Paris Climate Accordsare like the big climate change
treaty.
You probably heard of it before.
It's where every country in theworld until recently signed on
saying that they were going totry to get rid of climate change
or at least try to negate it,and this is backed by not only
the UN, but also the WorldHealth Organization, imf, a lot
(07:56):
of other things.
What a lot of schools do, or alot of universities, is they
send students to this, where thecountry delegates meet, where
other scientists meet, wherebusiness leaders meet to talk
about climate change and whateach little country is doing and
how it fits into the biggerpicture.
So it's called COP, and I'vebeen lucky enough to go twice,
one in Dubai, the United ArabEmirates, and the other time in
(08:18):
Baku, azerbaijan, which bordersIran, russia and is in the
Caucasus.
Both of those countries are oildrilling countries, so they
both bring a unique perspectiveinto how climate change impacts
everything and, at least duringmy travels there, a lot of
health is an integral part.
I mean, the World HealthOrganization mentions that it's.
You know it's intersectionalright.
(08:40):
As temperatures increase and,like definitely in more global
southern parts of the world, yousee people having higher heat
mortality.
You see people that are more,that are already vulnerable,
being more vulnerable alreadybecause the resources aren't
there compared to like the us oreu or australia, right, or the
other things too is.
You also see, young people arereally the ones that are causing
(09:01):
a ruckus in this space.
So so in COP 28,.
You know, protests usuallyaren't allowed in the UAE, but
you would see people insidethese UN delegation zones of,
like, young people my age oryounger, protesting about health
and how we need to make surenot only we have a clean
environment, because you knowanimals, but also because it's
(09:21):
important for mental health,it's important for the air you
breathe.
I mean, see the wildfires in LAand it's not just something
that happens in the US.
There was a huge declarationthat came out of Central Asia,
with Baku, where they were likea bunch of youth from six
different countries cametogether and declared that, like
these are demands from ourgovernment in the UN.
If you don't meet it, like thisis what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
So it's a it's a very changing space, but it's very
empowering too, if that makessense.
So that's kind of the UN onesat least.
Yeah, it does make sense andit's very cool to see young
people using their voices andnot, you know, waiting for
something to change, but reallydemanding change when it needs
to happen.
I'm curious, how did you getinvolved with this?
Like, how did you decide onclimate science and obviously
health?
I think may come from Crohn's,but I'm curious if that was sort
of the impetus to add the layerof health as it relates to
(10:12):
climate change into it, or likeyou know, trying to address it
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
So when I was going to college, I'm like, well damn,
I care about the environment,but I don't know where to go.
So eventually I got directedinto environmental studies and
then political science, becauseI'm a political junkie, but then
also, too, a lot of policiesintersected with
environmentalism and especiallylike health stuff too.
So as you take more classes, Itook a lot of ones that were on
(10:44):
like gender or you know, and yourealize that, like there's
already gender disparities whenit comes to how people interact
with climate change and theimpacts from that, but that's
also directly proportional tohealth.
It's like a triangle.
You know what?
If one falters, the otherfalters.
Right, health wasn't the thingthat I was going for.
In fact, it was something thatI was trying to stay away from,
(11:04):
but it's so intertwined witheverything you just kind of
stumble into it and it is whatit is and it's honestly quite
fascinating to learn.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, I think it makes sense for you to get
involved with it.
I know maybe you're trying toavoid it, but it does make sense
for you to go into it becausethen you have the background and
I do think you know there'sthere's layers to this as well.
Just even you know not just thesort of you know we're running
out of water and clean air andall the things and how that
affects people's health, butalso the impact of health on the
(11:33):
environment, like all of themedical waste that's produced,
all of the you know the wastethat's produced, as we're, you
know we're creating thesemedicines and and things like
that.
You know the science that goesinto dealing with health in and
of itself as part of the changeI would imagine, and something
to be looking at.
Wow, yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, no, and you are like spot on, because a lot of
you know, again, a lot of it'sso intersectional where you, if
you impact one area I meanmedical waste is a huge one
right now.
There's big pushes within the EUor even the World Health
Organization, and Baku actuallyjust had 163 countries sign not
the United States, though sayingthat they were going to try to
(12:11):
reduce medical waste withinsustainability and try to reach
net zero, which that's a wholeother ballpark, but at least
that they were going to try toreduce their sustainability to
neutral carbon emissions, right.
So I mean that's a huge thing.
And even, too, if you look at,like some of the research that's
coming out right now, you seethat, like young people are
(12:32):
being, are going to be, the onesimpacted by the decisions we
make today, especially when itcomes to, like clean air,
whatnot.
It's either we're going to betaking care of our parents, or
when we're trying to raise ourfamilies, or whatever dynamic a
person wants to have in their30s or 40s.
You know they're going todirectly be dealing with those
consequences.
So, and going back tohealthcare, again you know it's
(12:53):
so intertwined and you know thisputs extra burdens on the
healthcare system.
So it's, you impact one, youimpact the other.
It's so it's so hard todescribe how, like you know Lego
pieces, they fit together.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So, when you were there, what was your role?
Were you observing, or did youhave a specific job, so to speak
, when you were there?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, no, that's a good question.
So when we were so as students,so there's like different
classes of badges that you getwhen you go to the UN.
So you get some that are likeyou know you're a delegate, so
you're the that are like youknow you're a delegate, so
you're the one that's, you know,signing for your country, and
then you have people that join.
So it's kind of like imaginethe state fair and then each
booth at the state fair has,like you know, the staff that
(13:34):
help run it.
Or they have like the expo andyou have those staff.
So now imagine each country inthe world has its own little
pavilion and its own littlestaff helping out as like kind
of showing what they're doing inlike a showroom.
So then they have likescientists, business people, you
know, like indigenous leaders,that sort of thing.
I was an observer, which meansthat I'm either a researcher or
(13:55):
a student that's going there toachieve some sort of thing.
So for me, when I was in Dubai,I researched how sovereign
wealth funds so like Saudi'slike big money investment, or
the UAE is big money investment,how that's being used in the
climate change, or, this year,research indigenous biodiversity
in Australia.
So you know, like you're kindof a student, and then you get
(14:16):
to interact and you get to talkwith, like everyone from I
talked with the Prime Ministerof Norway on the Bahamas to a
couple years ago, to where youtalk to someone that has like a
little two acre farm, you know,in the middle of nowhere in,
like you know, azerbaijan.
So you really see a wholespectrum of people.
It's quite cool.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Explain to me how you landed on sovereign wealth
funds and indigenous people inAustralia for what you're
researching.
I mean, we do have indigenousfolks here in Minnesota.
I don't know if I needed topoint that out to you, but I'm
curious how you landed on those.
That seems like man.
How'd you get there?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
No, that's valid.
So with sovereign wealth funds.
So so since my professor kindof pushed to be like, since
you're going to, like the MiddleEast and the Gulf where there's
a bunch of oil, try to researchsomething where there's a lot
of, you know, oil, investmentand whatnot, and so over the
summer, I mean, I brainstormedeverything.
Originally I was going to lookat like oil companies and what
(15:12):
does their website say, but youknow, as an undergraduate,
that's kind of a tall order todo like a rhetoric analysis.
So I ended up being like youknow, why don't I just ask
people what they're, whatthey're doing and then just
write a little article on it?
So that's what I did.
So I settled on sovereignwealth funds, because 10% of all
the world's money today is inthose funds.
(15:32):
So I'm talking there's almost$12 trillion in these funds that
people invest in the othercompanies.
Norway, Singapore, China, SaudiArabia, Egypt, Alaska all have
these sovereign wealth fundsthat they use to invest in other
companies.
So if you want capital, theseare usually the people that you
talk with.
And then I also studied abroad,in Australia for six months, and
(15:55):
so this was in between, and soduring that time when I was in
Australia.
I'm really hoping to go to gradschool there because I fell in
love with the country whiledoing it and during that time,
one of the big things that wasstressed in my ecology class was
that indigenous knowledge is soimportant for targeting, you
know biodiversity conservation.
So being someone that you knowfor lack of better word, you
(16:18):
know fell in love with thecountry but then also, at the
same time, is looking at goingto grad school there, I thought
it was like a neat kind of thingto do, because I can do
Minnesota indigenous workwhenever that you know, like the
U of M.
But if you want to really lookat Australia, I mean you either
got to travel there or you gotto go to a conference like this.
So that was kind of my reasonsfor picking these and I got to
(16:39):
write papers.
They were quite fun.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Writing papers is fun as a Minnesotan as well, like
there's something much moreinteresting.
I'm with you it's much moreinteresting to go study like an
island, like that's soincredibly different than
Minnesota.
I'd much rather research thatas well.
I also happen to completelylove New Zealand, though I'm
just going to point that outthere.
So like, yeah, like I'll gothere any day and research, so
(17:03):
any excuse to go.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Hey, valid New Zealand.
I've been to Tasmania beforeand like down near New Zealand,
If you, if you got to go, yougot to go Like it's the coolest
thing ever.
It's so pretty.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yes, yeah, no, but my , my favorite place I've ever
been for sure, australia, NewZealand and Tasmania, whatever.
I want to switch gears a tinybit and bring us a little bit
back to so.
This is a lot of travel.
This is being in anothercountry for six months.
How do you manage that?
Like being on Humira, having tohave shots every other week,
(17:44):
and also like, do you have toworry about the food that you're
eating?
Like, how do you?
The flights are so long?
Like, how do you?
I need more information abouthow you prepare for travel, how
you prepare to live in anothercountry with the medications
that you're on.
Can you talk me through that alittle bit?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yes, and thank you for bringing that up, cause I
got like some insider tips thatI'm so excited to share.
So, first thing, at least withCrohn's, you never know when
Crohn's is just going to be apain in the ass, for lack of a
better term.
And so for me, whenever I eatairline food, it's never good.
It's like it's like Exxon Mobilin the Gulf of Mexico.
They just don't mix well.
(18:21):
So one thing that I always liketo do is regardless is pay
extra for the aisle seat.
Trust me, obviously the legroom is nice, but you also don't
have to worry about wakingpeople up to go do anything, and
on top of that, you also havethat chance to go use the
(18:42):
restroom if need be.
Right, and that is somethinghuge that I've done it.
And packing snacks as well, thatyou know are safe.
So for me, those are likegranola bars.
I love my sweets, so sweets too.
Or even like sometimes packinglike Doritos.
It sounds weird, they're notthe healthiest, but just having
calories sometimes is just whatyou need to just survive, cause
the longest flight I've done is15 hours, and when you're in a
(19:02):
little flying tube for that long, you have to prioritize your
own homeostasis over trying toyou know.
Uphold some diet that you cando on the ground if that makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That makes so much sense.
I always say eat what you cantolerate.
And if you can tolerate frenchfries, if that's what, like
potatoes, are your safe food.
Like we're not talking thatyou're going to eat french fries
for every meal for the rest ofyour life.
But I mean, maybe some of usare.
I don't know no judgment hereabout food.
I am a no judgment free zonewhen it comes to food.
(19:33):
But you have to.
You have to be able to eat foodthat you know you can tolerate.
And if that's Doritos, I meanit's delicious.
So literally.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
and it's so important too, because sometimes,
especially too, you also, whenyou fly, you have to drink a lot
of water, because you know thehumidity inside a flying tube an
airplane is only 10%.
Well, normal inside is 50 to 60.
So if you aren't stayinghydrated as well at least for me
, that exacerbates my Crohn'sright.
And at least when you're, youknow, defecating a lot, you're
(20:04):
losing fluids and electrolytes.
So eating calories, making sureyou get that, it's so essential
.
And then also to I think anotherkey thing is traveling with
Humira.
You have to keep itrefrigerated, right, like that,
that's just the nature of it.
And when you're living in acountry long term, like, let's
say, study abroad, you can'tship a medication from, like you
(20:25):
know, Minnesota and it just flyover to Sydney.
You can't do that, it's highlyillegal and you would be fined
thousands, if not tens ofthousands of dollars, right.
So when I went to Australia Ihad to pack my Humira in like a
little like door dash bag andthen I had to fly you know 40
hours of travel and make surethat it stayed at you know,
(20:47):
refrigerator temperatures.
So during that time it wasreally hard because I had to
work with insurance to get theapproval that I could bring the
right amount of Humira, and Iwill say, for that, one of the
key things I recommend is ifyou're doing an extended
vacation where you need thatmuch medication for that time,
one of the best things to do isyou can ask your insurance for
something called a vacationwaiver, and typically they will
(21:09):
give you something, or they willapprove it at least, where they
allow you to at least take moremedication.
That's what my GI did and itworked really well for me.
So I would recommend lookinginto that.
Otherwise too, you can talk tousually your pharmacy and they
might have some workarounds youcan do Next as well, when trying
to keep things refrigerated.
Using a refrigerated bag is soimportant because if you throw
(21:31):
it in like a normal little totebag or a plastic bag or whatever
, it's not going to stayrefrigerated and you have to
declare that customs too, andit's a lot easier for someone in
customs to look at your bagthat's refrigerated and realize
it's medication, versus a randomtarget bag that you're bringing
from Minnesota and it's like,no, I don't know if this is
legit.
So going through customs is awhole other spiel too, you know.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I'm curious like did you have to bring I'm assuming
you had to bring a letter fromyour doctor explaining what that
was, and they gave you likeyour whole supply for all six
months?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Yeah.
So I had to get, like I want tosay it was like I screwed up
because I only I shorted myselftwo pens.
So that's another thing tooabout travel is being able to be
adaptable is so important.
You know, like there was somelike I was supposed to have
eight pens total but I only hadsix, right.
And when you're in Australiaand you're not going back for
(22:26):
another six months, you kind ofhave to work with your doctor to
figure out what's going to workwell.
So being flexible and then alsobeing having honest
communication with your doctoris so important.
But then bringing it throughcustoms as well, that's
something else, because you needto have the original, you know,
the original casing for it.
You also need to have a notefrom your doctor, especially if
it's prescription or a biologic,describing what it is.
(22:48):
And then also with mostmedications too, they can't go
through the little x-ray scanneryou do at the airport because
that'll like change everything.
So or you know, like thepharmacology, if you will, of it
, so you have to do a hand swab.
There was one of my classmatesin the past sent theirs through
the little machine thingy and itruined their medication.
(23:10):
Thankfully it was not as severeas Crohn's right, it was
something more manageable.
But I mean still, could youimagine that you have, you know,
your $10,000 a month medicationand like that it's screwed up
because you put it through TSA.
So that's why it's like you gotto be careful and then, when
you get on the ground too, youhave just declare it, because
then you at least don't have topay fines and at least they'll
swab you and tell you you'regood.
So that was kind of my keything is just like declare it,
(23:32):
don't know how to go throughx-ways and just bring you know
documentation of everything.
I think that was just a keypart of this entire thing.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
So at some point I was working with some folks when
and they were looking to studyabroad and, depending on the
country, they they require youto have health insurance, like
to buy local health insurance,basically, and there's student
plans and things like that.
Is that like, did you have togo through that?
Like, how did you, how did yougo about preparing yourself to
understand, like, the healthcare requirements that you would
(24:00):
need in order to study abroad?
And then did you do anything tokind of make sure that you had
identified some doctors in itsounds like you're in Sydney
that were IBD specialists andjust just in case you would need
somebody there.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Yeah, you know and that's a great question and a YP
in you know, yp area, the youngpatients research advocacy
group that I work with andthey're so kind helped me out a
lot like figuring out some ofthe logistics of this, or at
least providing that moralsupport, and I would say one of
the key things is A, you'regoing to have to buy health
insurance.
And, b, usually if you studyabroad, you go through some sort
(24:35):
of provider, be it yourinstitution, literally the other
institution you're traveling at, or a nonprofit in between, and
usually they either havecontacts on the ground that'll
help you, and typically you paythem some and then they'll get
you the health insurance.
For me, when I was in Australia, I was actually on the West
(24:56):
Coast, in Perth I just usedSydney because people know that.
But when I was in Perth, though, I had to basically get like
something called Bupa, which wasbasically like a health
insurance thing that all peoplehave to get, and I had
specifically.
Australia is nice and it coverspre-existing conditions, but
let's say you were to travel byyourself to like Madrid or you
know, like you know independenttravel, and I would highly
(25:17):
recommend getting you knowtravel health insurance.
It's a policy is pretty cheap.
It's usually like, I meanrelative, of course, cheap.
It's like 100 bucks for, youknow, a two week vacation.
But one thing for sure to dowith that is, whenever you buy
the policy I always do it asclose as possible to when you
buy your plane tickets and thenalso to before you buy it make
(25:38):
sure that your you know preexisting conditions are covered,
because that Obama care clausedoes not fall under.
You know that they don't haveto follow the pre existing
conditions piece like normalhealth insurance does.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, unfortunately that is just a American health
plan thing and, frankly, we'llsee if that holds to be honest.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, agreed with that one.
Hope fingers crossed they fixthat, but we'll see.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So you've talked about the actual travel.
You talked about your snacks ontravel.
You talked about medicationswhen studying, studying abroad.
What about like food when youarrive, like when you're in the
uae or these arab countries,like, do you plan for that or
are you I, I don't know, myCrohn's is in my stomach, so
(26:23):
food is like a huge, like itmakes me nervous just thinking
about that because because of myCrohn's being my stomach, so
well, and the and this is not adig.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
I think this is one of the cool parts about
traveling and I think y'all willagree when you go to a
different country, you're notgoing to get the same stuff that
you would, you know, right downthe block, right?
So, especially going to like aplace like azerbaijan, spain
even, or like the united arabemirates, a lot of the food is
very different.
It's a lot of rice cooked inoil, a lot of complex spices.
You know, in Minnesota we'rebland, we think pepper and salt
(26:56):
are spices.
So going somewhere where theyuse, like right, like cumin,
turmeric, saffron, you know,like you know the stuff that you
see that you never cook withwhen that's commonplace, that
that's something where youreally got to sit back and be
like how am I going to react tothis?
Right?
So, like when I was inazerbaijan, I ate like a lot of
food and I'm not gonna lie, Ididn't make the smartest crones
(27:17):
decisions I like it was kind oflike I ate it and then two hours
later I'd hella regret it, butduring that time, it wasn't
delicious yes, that was, yes, itwas so good.
Sometimes deliciousness is worththe literal payoff, right.
But I, when, when, uh, when,traveling, though, it's always
(27:37):
something where I'm like I haveto look at the local cuisine or
go off of personal experience,because you know, like if some
cuisine is similar to others, orat least you can kind of figure
out general patterns.
So it's like it's being likeokay, I know my stomach
tolerates well, but I can't eatcamel, for an example.
You know what I mean.
Like I can't eat this, but Ican eat that, right.
So that was something that Ikind of played with and I'm like
(27:59):
okay, I also know that I can'teat a dish that's called by this
or has this sort of ingredientin it, and you can kind of tell
too.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You know what I mean now I'm curious what was the,
what was the craziest experiencethat you've had?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
oh god, okay I think.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
What was the dish?
I'm curious, no, so I've tried.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
I mean, there were some foods that I'm surprised my
crones didn't react with.
Like when I was in australia, Iate kangaroo and emu and crones
loved it, no problem at all.
Right, I go to azerbaijan and Itry like they have.
Like sheep is a big thing inazerbaijan.
So I ate like different typesof like sheep and some my
(28:36):
stomach liked and others Ididn't.
It was literally throwing adart at the dartboard and just
hoping that it was a sheep thatmy crones tolerated, right.
So kangaroo, okay, sheep, no,like that was weird.
And then also cam.
I had camel just coming backfrom the uae less than a week
ago and totally cool.
But then I try eating a normalhamburger from mcdonald's over
(28:57):
there nope, that was bad.
Well, you know you can't.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Half the time you don't even know what's gonna
happen, you know wow, yeah, itis interesting that, like the,
it seems like the more exoticmeats you seem to deal well with
.
I wonder if, like you know, itkind of goes back to the whole
like farming culture, like withthe sheep, is there something
about the farming techniquesthat we're using that are you
know?
Are the sheep being fed, youknow, grains that have
(29:22):
glyphosates on it or GMO Like?
Is it a GMO kind of thing, likewhat is it perhaps about that
particular sheep?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
No, no, and that's a fair question.
I think part of it too was howit's prepared, because I like,
obviously, the type of sheep,and a lot there too, it was like
you know the specific, thegrains or you know the food that
they grace on is very differentthan what you'd get in.
Like the midwest right, likecow country over here, is very
different.
You know sheep country overthere and I, I think too, a lot,
a lot of it is very it was veryoily, like oily.
(29:56):
You know fried food, so verygood, but still fried, and so I
think eating a lot of that friedfood too is also very hard on
the stomach and at least for me,that's something I've noticed
Like I can't even eat Cajunanymore without having going
through some of those things aswell.
You know what I mean.
Just because the oil is sostrong.
But yeah, the food is one ofthe things that's most fun, but
like you never know how acountry is going to treat you
from their food, you know what Imean.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Very true, very true this is.
This is going to be a veryMidwest specific question for
you.
Having grown up in North Dakotaand having, you know, kind of
lived in in Minnesota and inrural places in Minnesota even,
I'm curious how the hell did youget to a point where you are
this person that's going outeating camel and like touring
all over the place?
This is not a normal.
(30:36):
You're not a normal Midwesternboy.
Tell me about where this, thisimpetus came.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Oh God, this goes back to when I was a kid, all
right, so when I was in thirdgrade, like we're going way back
.
So when I was in third thirdgrade, I thought that I was
gonna go live like in likeFlorida or California, so you
know like, and I wanted to gohelp the whales.
That was like my big thing,that I wanted to do.
And so, you know, I was helpedthe whales.
And then eventually in hall ofhigh school I was like dead set.
(31:03):
I applied, I almost wasconfirmed that I was going to
the University of Hawaii atManoa, like in in Honolulu, but
I ended up in Minnesota.
I made the right choice but I'mlike, damn, that would have
been cool.
I think a big thing for me isI've always had this drive to
want to see the world.
You know, like Minnesota iscozy.
It's a cozy place.
You can, you can be born here,you can raise a family here.
(31:25):
You know your rights are goingto be protected.
But at the end, you know, atthe end of the day, at the same
time, there's not a lot of,let's just say, cultural
diversity, at least within theMidwest, outside of maybe
Chicago or Detroit.
So for me I really wanted to gosee what does like a desert
look like, what does all thesethings look like, and then you
(31:45):
know.
So I was fortunate enough thatmy university has all these
study abroad programs and a lotof them are very nicely funded
by donors, and so I've reallytaken it on myself and I'm like,
if you, if I'm given thisopportunity by a law I'm Muslim,
so that's why I say that but,like, if I'm given this
opportunity by a law, then Imight as well just go through
each opportunity and just try mybest to see what I can about
(32:09):
the world, right.
So that's brought me.
I was on a diplomatic climatechange.
I haven't even mentioned this.
I was to the Bahamas and didlike a diplomatic climate change
event with their prime ministerprime minister's office, right.
So I've done everything fromthat Azerbaijan, the UAE, spain,
turkey, australia, right.
Like again, all these differentcountries, but they all fit
(32:32):
into this climate change healthumbrella and if you want like a
cohesive picture on how this isaffecting everyone, you need to
go to where they are and thenlisten to their stories.
I think that's the mostimportant thing and, at least as
a white dude as well, it's soimportant to hear other people's
stories because, like for 99%of history, you know, my
identity has been the onerunning shit, unfortunately.
(32:53):
So it's important to go seewhere it's at and learn from the
people that are actuallyexperiencing it.
I guess that's a part of it too.
I didn't even think of it likethat, but yeah, that makes any
sense.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Louder for the people in the back.
Yeah, that is incrediblyenlightening and you make me,
you make me have hope for theworld.
Okay, so next question for youis I want to ask a little bit
more about I found YP areaactually through my mom shout
(33:41):
outs to all moms out there.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
One thing is, she found this Facebook like ad
asking for young adults tosubmit an application.
I did, I didn't think much ofit and then I got accepted into
it after going through aninterview.
And you know the experience atfirst I wasn't, honestly, I
wasn't expecting much outside of.
This is just another way for meto kind of vocalize my crones
and you know, like, just talkabout it.
But they've been so helpfulbecause, you know, yp Area's big
mission is about finding anddisseminating research to, you
(34:07):
know, young adults, adolescents,usually a demographic that's
really been ignored in theliterature, you know, in the
academic literature, of course.
But then also, how do you likedoctors, how do you have this
conversation with young patientsabout what they're going
through?
Like?
For me, when I first gotdiagnosed, I was at an adult
practice as a pediatric, youknow, as a pediatric patient, so
(34:28):
the doctor was treating me asif I was an adult.
But I had to go through alllike you know it was.
You know what I mean.
It was like this weird kind ofguys.
So for me it was kind of nicethat I've lived through this at
least.
And now, to put this inperspective.
So YP Area has just really beenfocusing on trying to increase
the engagement with, with thisdemographic, and I think one
(34:49):
thing that's just been soempowering for me is I'm part,
so we have three different aims,so each one is focused on, like
, research, dissemination, youknow, creating materials, you
know logistics, you know allthat kind of stuff, and so the
one that I'm on is the one thatdoes a lot of our PR kind of
stuff, like the Instagramoutreach, making connections
with other, you know, nonprofits, etc.
(35:10):
And I think, so far, though,it's just been so enlightening
to be able to work on a campaignthat's ran by young adults with
supportive faculty, reallypushing for this research and
getting people involved.
We're still growing.
We're still quite small, butwe're growing and we're still
mighty, and, yeah, it's justit's been really rewarding.
I've been with them for about ayear and a half now.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Is it open to students across the country, or
is it just schools in Minnesota?
Like what, how?
What is the reach?
Speaker 3 (35:38):
No, and that's a great question.
We have a lot of geographicdiversity, so we've got everyone
from Cali to New York city, soanyone within the contiguous U?
S and, honestly, we've acceptedpeople from Canada before.
So anyone from the contiguous U?
S or Canada is more thanwelcome to apply or apply, or at
least you know when we'relooking for members again.
(35:59):
But I, you know, we the one ofthe things that YP area and you
know Christine and Courtney havereally tried to do, that's the,
that's our faculty members thathelp lead this, you know,
project, and one of the bigthings that they focused on is
getting diversity, bothgeographically, of course, but
then also with an identity, sothat we create inclusive
environment for everyone, and atleast having people from across
(36:20):
the nation is one damn good wayof getting diversity.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Well, and you don't have to be a student, right,
isn't it, that you can also justbe a young person that isn't
necessarily a student.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, and I didn't sorry, sorry if I said student,
that's just a habit for me.
But yeah, you don't have to bea student either, because we
really cater to anyone that'sbetween like the ages of you
know, like between 16, 17, allthe way to 24.
And you don't need to be astudent.
You can be someone that's stillin high school, entering the
workforce.
Maybe you're in limbo somewhere, but regardless, though, you
(36:50):
don't need to be like a collegestudent talking about your
health.
You can be someone that you canjust be someone that's just.
You know you're working yourjob and it's something you're
curious about.
This is the perfect avenue totry to learn more about what you
can do and also maybe how toget better access to the care
that you deserve, if that makessense.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Absolutely.
When you first got togetherwith this group of folks from
kind of all over the place, whatwould you say are like the top
five things that they identifiedthat were priority, like areas
to disseminate information on.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
You know, there were quite a few things that we were
trying to do, because we getlike different awards, you know,
like grant awards and whatnot,and so, you know, one of the big
things, at least, that Iremember working on specifically
was, you know, we were tryingto increase our outreach.
That was one big thing is justtrying to interact with more
people.
However, that may be.
One big thing too that wereally focused on was trying to
host these like social events,like a like a zoom event or a
(37:44):
zoom lecture about.
You know, we was kind ofsetting up the infrastructure
and we actually did host onelast year, last year 2024, one
on health insurance and anotherone on like doctor patient
conversation.
So that was another like bigsuccess that we have.
So those were two big things atleast, and I think another piece
, too, at least, was creatingmore collaborations with I don't
(38:08):
know if I'm at Liberty to nameour partnerships.
You know just, I'm not sure ifI am, but I will say one of the
big things that we did is wewere trying to also collaborate
more with different NGOs ornonprofits to try to create more
, you know, awareness about whatwe're doing but also what
they're doing as well and seewhere young patients fit into
this greater, you know, likehealth.
(38:29):
You know like this greaterhealthcare conversation, be it
Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis,you know even diabetes.
You name it, we've done it.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
That's great, and I know one of our past guests, dr
Jordan Shapiro, was one of thedoctors that was on the webinar.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
That's a cool connection, yeah, and that was a
great webinar too, and DrShapiro did so well with that it
was.
I remember watching it at leastI was really tired after work,
but it was really interesting towatch nevertheless, and it was
good to actually see it happenin execution.
So that was one of the thingsthat we really focused on and
going forward.
We would like to host more ofthose.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I am sad, nick, to have to ask you this, because
I've loved talking to you andI've loved hearing your stories,
but it is, in fact, time for meto ask you our last question.
So what is the one thing thatyou want the IBD community to
know?
What's the advice that you havefor us?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
I think the big thing for me that like just listening
to this and this is the onething you can take away is one
climate change and health are soinextricably linked and even if
you don't think that climatechange will affect you in any
way, or maybe you will, maybeyou've seen it, you know, but
regardless, you know climatechange, healthcare, it's so, in
you know, inextricably linked.
It pays to know about both.
But I think another thing tooand this is more personal to me
(39:45):
is that remission can look likea bunch of different things for
a lot of different people andthat even when you're at the
lowest low, it's still possible.
For me, I think something thatreally helped with my doctor was
saying remission isn't whatcomes out of your blood work or
what you see in your diagnosis.
It's about the quality of lifeand feeling that you have
control over someone, somethingelse, having control.
(40:06):
So for me, a big thing for meis one thing that I try to take.
Control is, you know, travelingto eight countries within the
last one and a half years.
But that can look likesomething else for you.
You know, if that something istaking up a new hobby, go for it
.
If that's going to universityor getting that new job, or even
just leaving the house for thefirst time and doing the little
(40:27):
steps, that's all that matters.
Remission is not a final endall be all.
It's rather a process that youget to and then that's something
that you are happy with withwherever you are.
It evolves over time, just likeyou.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Wise words.
Nick Wise words.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Thank you.
And also, yp Area is amazingand our Instagram is super cool.
You guys should go check it out.
But yeah, anyway, though,that's the end of my spiel.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
We will link to the YP area in the show notes
everyone.
So if you are a young personthat's looking to get involved
or just wants to follow theirsocial media, it's educational,
it is a very great social media.
So thank you for your work onthat, nick.
So we'll link to that in theshow notes.
Take a look at that.
We'll make sure we link YP areaalso in our Instagram, robin,
if we can, when we post for Nick.
(41:12):
Absolutely, nick.
What an absolute delight to getto know you, and I'm sad that
you're not in St Paul so wecould have done this in person,
but that's okay.
We'll have to figure outanother time to get together.
But thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show.
We really appreciate yousharing your obvious passion for
climate change and health andgiving me back some hope for the
(41:33):
world.
I especially appreciate thattoday.
So thank you for being on theshow.
Thank you everybody else forlistening and cheers everybody.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Cheers everybody.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Cheers.
My Arnie is now gone, but I'llpretend to drink it.
Hi, this is Nicholas Mertens,and if you enjoyed this episode,
please rate, review, subscribeand share bowel movements with a
friend.
Thank you for joining everyoneand have a great day.
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