That's how the Premier League footballer and Scotland international described to NEWS (our membership newsletter) his decision to become our newest charity ambassador.
Crohn's & Colitis UK does a fantastic job supporting people with IBD. I know only too well what this devastating disease is like, and want to help raise awareness of the condition,"
This is why I'm so pleased to become an Ambassador for Crohn's & Colitis UK, because I know how difficult an illness it is to deal with and I'm willing to do what I can to help.
Darren, whose Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is now in remission following surgery, presented a donation cheque of £7,000 to the young patients at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital IBD Day Case Unit in December. These funds were raised as part of the United for Colitis event in March 2014 and will buy entertainment and educational equipment for the Unit's young patients. Some of these youngsters will require surgery and long stays at the hospital.
I've come through it and got back to playing professional football after suffering with it for so long and I think that gives people hope,
Following my surgery, there's nothing stopping me, and since I came back from surgery I've missed just one day's training. I'm living a normal life again, balancing football with a busy family life.
Darren's visit to the hospital is one of the happy outcomes from the 2014 United for Colitis gala dinner held at Manchester United's Old Trafford facilities. United for Colitis is the brainchild of Jon McLeish, the son of football manager Alex McLeish, and the gala event saw Darren sharing his inspiring story along with ex-England Rugby captain Lewis Moody MBE, who also has UC and is an ambassador for Crohn's and Colitis UK. The pair were joined by Sir Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney, and many other premier league team mates and players.
The hugely successful evening raised nearly £120,000 - a significant proportion of this is going towards supporting young IBD patients in Manchester, and further funds are going towards improving the standard of care for everyone with IBD around the UK.
Jon McLeish, who himself has UC, is very keen to help young people.
Many of the new cases diagnosed this year will be young people or children. That's around 10,000 young people being diagnosed with IBD on an annual basis, and those most severely affected by these diseases often have to spend long periods in hospital,
We want to help lift the children's spirits, and hope that donating the equipment will help to distract and amuse the young inpatients, many of whom will be undergoing traumatic and invasive treatments.
