“Hi, I’m Aaron. When I was 7 years old I was taken to the hospital with terrible stomach-aches. No one knew what was going on and I was very sore. It was very painful for me to eat or drink. I stayed in the hospital for two weeks. I had many, many needles and tubes put everywhere. Sometimes it was really sore and very scary for me. Finally the doctors told me I had Crohn’s disease, which made my tummy sore. I tried many medicines to make me feel better – nothing worked. I missed three months of school and I lost 30 pounds.

The doctors told my parents that I needed a very special medicine given to me by an infusion every 6-8 weeks, and that I would have to I stay in the hospital for a whole day. Thankfully, my family has insurance that pays for my treatments. My medicine costs more than $40,000 every year. If I did not have access to this medicine, I could still be very sick.

Every time I went to the hospital, I would give a donation to make other children feel better. Then I decided to start a charity called Aaron’s Apple. My charity will help families that cannot afford expensive medications such as the one I need.”