Woman creates support group
Tuesday, October 15, 2002

BY FORD TURNER
Of The Patriot-News

It must be your mind, they say.

Can't eat on a consistent basis? Can't keep down solid food? Sounds like something psychological.

Carissa Haston has heard it for years.

She could just pull her T-shirt up a bit, and show those people the tube that goes into her small intestine. Or, tug down the neckline and show the white catheter that runs into a vein near her heart.

more...

Young Alumnus Award recognizes woman's work in disease support
By Tiffany Pakkala October 16, 2002

Messiah College graduate Carissa Haston may not have eaten a meal since 1999, but she's still strong enough to pull together more than 800 people worldwide in an online support network she created for fellow sufferers of a rare disease called gastroparesis.

The college honored her with its 2002 Young Alumnus Award at a ceremony Tuesday after she developed the world's leading website for gastroparesis patients and founded the Gastroparesis Patient Association for Cures and Treatment (G-PACT).

more...

Support group founder will lecture doctors

BY FORD TURNER
Of The Patriot-News
Thursday, May 15, 2003

When Carissa Haston leaves for Florida today, it will be a case of the patient going to lecture the doctors.

Haston is battling gastroparesis, an oft-misunderstood condition that paralyzes the stomach. She is scheduled to speak Saturday to doctors at a training session in Orlando run by Medtronic, an international manufacturer of medical devices. 

More...