CROHN’S IS NO MATCH FOR JONATHAN GRAY

Crohn’s is a terrible disease that we still don’t fully understand. 

It causes inflammation of your digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition.

“Around February 2004 is when my symptoms of Crohn’s started,” Jonathan said. “On an almost daily basis it would feel as though a hot knife had been stuck in my stomach and someone was twisting it around. The pain would be so unbearable that it would make me vomit and it got to the point where my college roommates were used to finding me passed out in the bathroom.”

Multiple emergency room visits and medical tests yielded no answers and at times Jonathan felt as though the countless doctors he saw weren’t taking his complaints seriously. 

“This continued for months and as I lost weight it got to the point where I could barely get up for class let alone get out climbing or any of the other outdoor activities I had started,” he said. “I had to drop out of college around September 2004 and went home.”

The medical tests and emergency room visits continued with no one was able to give him an actual answer to what was going on. It wasn’t until he met with a surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and she encouraged Jonathan to do exploratory surgery to find out what was going on. 

“As soon as she made the first cuts into my stomach it was apparent what had happened,” he said. “Scar tissue had built up so much on the piece that connects the large and small intestine together that the intestines had split apart and somehow I hadn’t died because the scar tissue had prevented bile and everything else from spilling all through my stomach cavity.”

He woke up from surgery already admitted to the hospital with another larger surgery scheduled. The next surgery was where the damaged intestine was cut out and he was given an ileostomy to allow his large intestine to heal from the damage caused. 

“By the time I finally was able to leave the hospital in October 2004 I was 5’9” and 115 lbs and could barely walk up a flight of stairs,” Jonathan said. “While in the hospital I had already started to work to get back in shape, I would do laps around the hospital floor. I started slow but pushed myself as hard as I could and by February I was ice climbing again.”

Since then, he has been extremely fortunate that his Crohn’s has never flared up as badly as it originally had. He has to go on low-dose chemo therapy once to address a flare up but he has always been extremely cognizant that a lot of people have cases that are much worse than his. 

“I got into powerlifting as after college I drifted away from climbing and needed a new outlet,” he added. “For me the gym has always been a place where I can completely turn off my mind from my fears and insecurities and really focus on pushing myself. I found APEMAN last year because I always saw Ed Coen wearing shirts with the logo on it and pretty much thought, ‘Well if the GOAT of powerlifting is rocking it I definitely should check it out.” 

Jonathan was immediately drawn to the phrase “STRONG HAS MANY FORMS” and loved how the company seems to understand that true strength is not actually measured by what’s on the bar. 

“I began reading the stories on the site during a pretty dark time last year,” he said. “I wasn’t able to sleep and would stay up and read about others who went through so much and were able to get through it. It reminded me of my own struggles and that I had already been through so much and could get through this. I honestly believe APEMAN STRONG represents some of the strongest people on the planet and I am not talking about the powerlifters and fighters that wear it.”