Meet the Hopper Family

Leslie, Jamie, Kate and Dylan

BY MARIA SMIETANA; PHOTOS BY BUONANNO PHOTOGRAPHY

Jamie Hopper is one of the approximately 500,000 Americans who suffer from Crohn’s disease, one of two chronic conditions (the other is ulcerative colitis) that fall under the category of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). He was diagnosed nearly a decade ago.

A Chicago native who grew up near South Bend, Jamie met his wife Leslie at their hometown church in 1992.

They both attended IU Bloomington and have been married since 2000. Their children, Kate and Dylan, are students at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate Junior High School. Leslie is a long-time teacher at Thorpe Creek Elementary School. The family moved to Fishers in 2015 and love living there.

By most measures, Jamie, a Registered Financial Consultant, lives a successful and fulfilling life. But Jamie’s bouts with Crohn’s can have a significant impact on his family life as well as his personal well-being. “I never [envisioned] that having Crohn’s would end up being a journey for my family,” he said. “The hardest part for all of us is knowing that I have to get through my morning “digestive routine” before I am ready to leave the house. That means that there are many days where we don’t schedule events in the morning, or if we do, we leave much later than we would have liked. This is especially hard when we plan road trips or other activities where we will be gone for an extended period.”

Jamie worries that it’s tough on his kids to see him sick. “They are strong, but knowing their dad isn’t 100% is hard on them,” he noted. “For the most part, I don’t have too many days that I don’t feel well enough to do normal activities but having a digestive disease drains energy from your body faster than anything else. I often wake up tired because of what’s going on in my body.”

Since individuals with compromised immune systems are especially vulnerable to all kinds of infections, the Hoppers were especially careful to stay out of public places at the start of the COVID epidemic, and to wear masks when they did go out. “Eventually, we did start to go back out after we got vaccinated,” Jamie said. “We also have a strong faith, and that allowed us to go back out knowing the armor of God was surrounding our family.”

According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory conditions that damage the gastrointestinal tract and impair the function of digestive organs. While Crohn’s can affect any part of the digestive tract, from the mouth to the anus, it most commonly affects the area where the small and large intestines meet. Ulcerative colitis is usually limited to the colon and rectum. Symptoms can include pain, persistent diarrhea, constipation, rectal bleeding, fatigue, and weight loss.

Though the cause of Crohn’s and colitis are not well understood, there is increasing evidence that affected individuals have a genetic predisposition for immune reactions that attack their own digestive systems. These immune responses are triggered by unknown environmental factors. The bacteria and viruses that normally live in the digestive tract are now known to play a role, too.

Or as Jamie puts it, “Essentially, there is inflammation in my digestive tract, and no one knows what is causing it. My body’s immune system basically attacks the good bacteria in my digestive tract, making the disease worse. Modern medicine’s response, because they can’t find a cause, is to prescribe medicine to weaken the immune system. A weakened immune system can be scary in the era we are in today.”

Though there is no cure, treatments include corticosteroids, antibiotics, immune modulating drugs, monoclonal antibody-based drugs, and aminosalicylates.

Insurance coverage is a struggle that the Hoppers contend with regularly. “They [insurers] have decided on a few occasions that they do not want to cover my medicine or my procedures,” Jamie said. “I take a shot every four weeks that costs $29,000. Our insurance won’t pay for it, so I had to find a program that would. Also, when a healthy person gets a colonoscopy, insurance pays for it. When someone with a chronic illness gets one, they pay [out-of-pocket] for each one. We don’t even get a discount for every second or third one.”

Jamie’s advice to those that suffer from Crohn’s or colitis is to not fight alone. “Do not sit at home and read horror stories in chat rooms,” he said. “Our family is very involved with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation--Indiana Chapter. We have been volunteering there since 2019. We were the 2022 Honored Heroes for the Take Steps event at Connor Prairie on June 11. Our team’s name is Don’t Stop Believin’, from the song by Journey, my favorite band. It has been a huge blessing to surround ourselves with this supportive network of people. Get involved with our foundation because they offer a lot of support and resources.”

Additionally, Jamie and Leslie are very thankful to people they have met recently who have introduced them to alternative remedies that are now helping Jamie tremendously. “My wife and I are really big into all-natural solutions, and these things are a huge step in that direction,” Jamie said. “After 8 years, I just want to be in remission. We don’t care how I get there. We have recently been introduced to BEMER. Their equipment uses electromagnetic therapy to increase blood flow, reduce inflammation, and promote natural healing. It’s made a huge impact on several issues we were dealing with. We have also used chiropractic care, Juice Plus+, LifeVantage, CBD, and supplements from an all-natural doctor to heal naturally.” Jamie is also an advocate for Indiana Health Fund, which helps families pay medical bills before they go into collections. “I have not been able to use their services, but I tell everyone about them.”

As president of his own Money Concepts financial planning center, Jamie says it has been a real blessing to work from home and make his own schedule. “This allows me to do administrative work and participate in Zoom calls in the mornings when I am not ready to go out into public quite yet.”

The Hoppers attend Heartland Church in Fishers and are involved in volunteering, leading and participating in small groups. “We have a huge heart for helping people,” Jamie said. “After the experience of losing my mother, I helped start a senior support team to help families through tough caregiving situations. We help by introducing them to resources and funding that may benefit them. Our pastor, Darryn Scheske, taught us that we don’t go through hard times just to test us. We go through them so we can help other people through them later. That’s why the things we are doing with the foundation are so important to us.”

One night a week, the Hoppers carve out family time to play a game or watch a show together without distraction. They eat dinner at home almost every night. “Leslie and I didn’t eat meat for a long time, and she still doesn’t,” Jamie said. “We tend to eat many different things. I would say our favorites are hamburgers and hotdogs from the grill, Italian nights, and tacos. Thank goodness, Leslie is an amazing cook! When we do go out, we aren’t fancy. We enjoy Chuy’s, Olive Garden, and Red Robin. We like to visit the Fishers Farmer’s Market in the summer.”

Vacation planning is a bit more complex for the Hoppers than for most families. “Road trips have to be thought out because sometimes there are huge gaps between public restrooms, but we have made it work,” Jamie said. “Beach destinations are great because we are usually on the sand right in front of our condo and close to whatever I may need.” Lately, the family has started to explore more of Indiana’s great state parks, which tend to offer many amenities, including decent restrooms. “If you are ever in public and need to know where the bathroom is, ask an IBD patient,” Jamie laughs.

Always looking for opportunities to grow, Jamie’s life took a positive leap in 2021, when he found Synergize, a group of supportive professionals who want to grow in community and make the world a better place. “I have never found a group outside of our church that loves each other, makes such a large ripple of positive impact on the world, helps each other be successful, and prays for each other,” he said. “If you’ve never been to a Synergize event, please look at the website and come to our next 4:30 Meetup!”

Though Jamie’s illness definitely changed his life, he is grateful that he and his family can still do most things that others enjoy. “Too many people fight these diseases alone because digestive issues are not something we generally talk about in public,” he said. “I’m trying to change that stigma. I think it was huge for us to know that we can still live the life we want to live and not the one we have to live.”