Terrapin Tackles Crohn's Disease

21/2 Months After Surgery, Duffie Gains Starting Job on Defensive Line

Landon graduate Justin Duffie, a defensive tackle with the Maryland football team, says ailment can make it feel like "someone is stabbing me in my stomach." (Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)

During his worst moments, after he had dropped 54 pounds and was crawling to the bathroom five times a night to throw up, Justin Duffie still searched for a way, any way, he could return to the football field.

Duffie, a 23-year-old Maryland junior, has kept a solitary goal since Dec. 31, 2002, when he started his first and only game for the Terrapins in the Peach Bowl: He wants to play again. And he wants to play again without feeling like "someone is stabbing me in my stomach."

Duffie is one of more than 1 million Americans suffering from Crohn's disease, a chronic, incurable and painful digestive disorder that inflames the intestines and can cause, among other debilitating complications, diarrhea, cramps and weight loss. At his worst, the opening in Duffie's intestines was the width of a small straw.

Although he underwent surgery 2 1/2 months ago, during which nearly 14 inches of inflamed intestines were extracted, Duffie's name was listed in bold on Maryland's most recent depth chart. Come Saturday against Northern Illinois, he will start at defensive tackle.

"I wanted to believe every second that I was doing it so I could get back here playing again," Duffie said. "I didn't want to go out like that, where it kind of beat me. I wanted to be back and going out on my own terms. . . . I think someone would have had to drag me off the field and tie me up for me to stop."

The same day Duffie underwent his six-hour surgery at Baltimore's University of Maryland Hospital, he was told about another player, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard, who had recently undergone a similar procedure.

"This is something you can definitely overcome," Garrard, 26, said in a telephone interview. "After the surgery, clear your mind of anything about the disease being inside you. Don't have thoughts of the disease coming back."

More than 100,000 of those with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, another inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are children, which is more than cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis and hemophilia combined. But IBD is the "quintessential closet disease," according to Rolf Benirschke, a former San Diego Chargers kicker who suffered from it throughout his career.

"Doctors said they weren't sure I would live," Benirschke said. "I wasn't sure I wanted to live."

The symptoms are of a personal nature, which makes it difficult for many to address or even acknowledge. Numerous celebrities, though, including President Bush's brother Marvin, professional golfer Al Geiberger and NHL player Theo Fleury, have come forward as IBD sufferers.

The cause is unknown, although it seems to track within families -- 20 percent of patients have another family member with the disease. "But there is no rhyme or reason," said Julie Perry, executive director of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America's Florida chapter. "It's so miserably frustrating. It's insidious."

Duffie was first diagnosed with the disease at 16. Doctors initially thought it was a virus, but when it proved non-contagious, Duffie underwent additional tests, which revealed Crohn's.

Duffie still played fullback, outside linebacker, tight end and nose tackle at Landon School in Bethesda, where he earned defensive MVP as a senior. He took medicine to avoid a relapse, which, for the most part, was successful.

As a Maryland freshman, Duffie played well in the Peach Bowl, one of two games in which he saw action, recording two tackles and raising the bar for his sophomore year. Entering 2003 summer camp, Duffie had loftier goals: start on the defensive line. But he grew weaker during spring workouts, with a sharp pain emerging in his lower right side.