Dana Marshall-Bernstein is featured in this summer’s edition of the Cleveland Clinic’s Catalyst magazine.
Dana Marshall-Bernstein’s struggle with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the digestive system, and her treatment at the Cleveland Clinic is the subject of her documentary SemiColon; The Adventures of Ostomy Girl.
In Crohn’s disease, the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy bacteria in the GI tract. Chronic inflammation causes thickening of the intestinal wall, which triggers the symptoms. The exact reason for this is still not clear. About 700,000 Americans are affected by Crohn’s disease.
“Crohn’s has affected my whole life – every second of every day of my life,” Dana said. “When I go to the doctor, I say, ‘This is what you do for a living, but this is what I do to live.’ It’s not something that I can take a break from, like a five-minute breather, or go on vacation and say, ‘I’ll deal with this on Monday.’ It gets very tiring.”
Dana’s parents, Cari Marshall and Ed Bernstein had a hard time finding the appropriate healthcare close to their home in Las Vegas. Both of her parents are from Cleveland and had opted to make the journey for the Cleveland Clinic.
Cleveland Clinic is of the top digestive disease centers in the United States. Dana’s father, Ed, has been “thrilled” with the level of care that Dana has received at the Cleveland Clinic.
To help raise awareness of the struggles that come with Crohn’s disease, Cari, Dana’s mother, and Dana produced Semicolon; The Adventures of Ostomy Girl. It was shot at the Cleveland Clinic and premiered in Las Vegas in March 2015 to excellent reviews.
Read Dana’s article in Catalyst Magazine here.