November is Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Month in Canada, diseases that affect one in every 150 people in this country.

Kristen Allison was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease 11 years ago

“I started experiencing symptoms almost a year before I was diagnosed and it took a lot of tests to find out what it was,” says Allison.

Although living with Crohn's disease has been a challenge, the 30-year-old considers herself lucky – her disease progressed slowly and she was able to manage through medication, diet, natural supplements, and gentle exercise for ten years.

“It wasn't until a little over a year and a half ago that it really started to impact me. Ten years of inflammation had taken its toll on my body and I kind of hit rock bottom at that point,” says Allison.

The disease started to affect her daily life.

“I was experiencing pretty severe pain every day,” says Allison. “I was nauseous all the time. I couldn't eat anything, I lost a significant amount of weight. I couldn't go to work anymore.”

That's when Allison’s doctor suggested bowel resection surgery, which she had last October.

“It's quite an intense recovery period and because I was so malnourished going into the surgery, I weighed about 82 pounds at that point, so the recovery took even longer,” says Allison.

Allison says one of the biggest challenges of living with Crohn's and colitis is that people don't really talk about it. However, she was fortunate to have a few friends with Crohn's who she could talk to and those conversations pushed her to share her own story on social media.

“When I did start to share this on social media, I got a lot of messages from people that I knew and even people that I didn't know that thanked me for sharing it and letting me know that they were suffering through it or someone in their family was suffering through it.”

Crohn's and Colitis Canada is encouraging others to share their experiences on social media using #MakeItStopForLife as part of the awareness month initiative.

“If we can get people out there talking about the fact that I too have Crohn's, I too have colitis, it will hopefully encourage other people to come out and share in the experience,” says Amanda Woodburn, with the Atlantic chapter of Crohn's and Colitis Canada.

Woodburn says, for many years, these diseases were kept behind closed doors and their goal is to eliminate the stigma and misconceptions surrounding them.

“The more awareness and the more individuals we can get to come together and tell their stories, the better,” says Woodburn.

Allison has recently been named one of the honorary chairs for next year's Gutsy Walk, which raises much needed funds for the cause.

“The only way to generate awareness about that, to find a cure so that people don't have to live with this lifelong illness is to start talking about it and that's really how we're going to make a difference,” says Allison.

As part of awareness month, Halifax City Hall will be lit in red Thursday night to bring attention to Crohn's and Colitis. Volunteers will be on hand to provide information and hot chocolate.