Running Against the Odds
After a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, Catherine Rodgers refused to let the illness define her. Instead, she turned her experience into a mission—using her role at Kravis Children’s Hospital to support kids with Irritable Bowel Disorder and running the New York City Marathon in their honor. While having never been runners, she and her sister raised more than $13,000 for children with Irritable Bowel Disorder—proving that empathy, community, and grit can help overcome life’s most daunting obstacles.
Stephen Calabria: [00:00:00] From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's Director of Podcasting.
On this episode, we welcome Catherine Rodgers, a radiology child life specialist at Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital. Following a series of mysterious illnesses, Catherine was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2020.
This helped guide a career in pediatric medicine. It was there she decided to run the New York City Marathon to support IBD kids, that raised money to further the research and treatment for irritable bowel disorder, also known as IBD.
Katherine completed the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 2nd, and her story is a model of perseverance, dedication, and service to her community. We're honored to welcome Catherine Rodgers to the show.
Catherine Rodgers, welcome to Road to Resilience.
Catherine Rodgers: [00:01:00] Thank you so much for having me.
Stephen Calabria: You are a child life specialist at Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital, is that right?
Catherine Rodgers: Yes, that's correct. I help prepare our pediatric patients prior to diagnostic scans and procedures in radiology, I then help create a coping plan and I support them and their families through that experience.
Stephen Calabria: A coping plan, like what does that usually mean?
Catherine Rodgers: Could be distraction, deep breathing.
Non-pharmacological pain management. It varies depending on the age of the patient and what scan they're getting or procedure. But those are some of the options that we can do.
Stephen Calabria: Is pet therapy also a part of that?
Catherine Rodgers: We do have three wonderful facility dogs, Icy, Summer and Muffin. So yes, they're a huge part of our program and we love them.