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.

But Haston, a 2000 graduate of Messiah College, is instead making sure the world gets better acquainted with gastroparesis, an oft-misunderstood condition that can paralyze the stomach. According to www.healthcentral.com, the incidence of gastroparesis is three out of every 1,000 people.

Working mostly from her Fairview Twp. home, she has founded a support group and nonprofit organization that have members worldwide.

It hasn't been easy.

Haston, 24, has had many surgeries. Her temperature has shot up to 106 degrees from rapidly spreading infections. She can't eat, and gets nourishment through the catheter.

Her persistence will be recognized by Messiah College today, when it gives her its 2002 Young Alumnus Award.

"Carissa has this amazing drive that kept her moving ahead," said Keith Drahn, director of disability services at the college. "She knew what her goal was. She would be devastated physically for a week or two, then jump right back in."

Haston's organization is Gastroparesis Patient Association for Cures and Treatments, or G-PACT. It aims to educate the public, including doctors, about gastroparesis; to fund research; and to help sufferers who have questions or need financial help.

G-PACT has more than 800 members worldwide and is growing rapidly.

"It is coming together a lot better and a lot faster than any of us would have ever believed ... It is all done on the Internet or the phone or with faxes," Haston said.

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