Road to Wellness

At first, investment entrepreneur Judy Resnick did notrealize that her daughter, Stacey Shiffman, was carrying a geneticallytransmitted disease.

“We didn’t know what she had,” Resnick said. “It was afterher first child was born, and she was getting sicker and sicker and thinner andthinner. It’s very difficult to watch your children suffer from anything. Itaffects everybody.”

Thirteen years later, Resnick — who chronicled hertransformation from a struggling, divorced mother of two into an Inc.magazine-worthy success story in her best-seller, “I’ve Been Rich. I’ve BeenPoor. Rich Is Better.” (Golden Books, 1999) — knows all too well about Crohn’sand colitis diseases.

On March 20, the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Crohn’sand Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) will honor Resnick, 61, along with Dr.Oliver Goldsmith, at the Beverly Hills Hotel for her support of Crohn’s andcolitis medical research.

“When we were told what she had, we were relieved … untilwe learned what Crohn’s was,” Resnick said.

There are more than 1 million known cases nationwide ofCrohn’s and colitis, which tend to be diagnosed in the teen years and can skipseveral decades to become a nuisance after the age of 45. These diseasesdisproportionately affect people of Eastern European Jewish descent — they arefour to five times more likely to contract the diseases.

Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis attack the largecolon and disrupt the digestive system, causing multiple flare-ups of intensediarrhea, bleeding and pain. Commonly known as inflammatory bowel disease, thediseases create a weakness in the immune system. With colitis, the disease canbe eradicated surgically by removing all or part of the colon. However, thereis no known way to eliminate Crohn’s.

“It’s not a disease people talk about,” said HankBorenstein, executive director of the local CCFA chapter. “People shy away fromit.”

With 40 chapters nationwide, CCFA raises $25 millionannually, with about 25 percent going to research and the rest towardeducation, programming and services.

“Stacey’s the first person to ever have it in my family,”said Resnick, who also has an older daughter, Audrey Little, 37, and fivegrandchildren. “She’s had a very bad experience. She’s in and out of thehospital.”

Originally from New Jersey, Resnick attended Hamilton High School. Her troubles began in early adulthood, after her marriage quicklyimploded.

“I was a stay-at-home mother,” Resnick said. “My father usedto help my children.”

But after her father died, Resnick encountered a financialletdown.

“At the end of the day, there was no big estate [to supportme and my kids],” said Resnick, who did inherit a 5 percent interest in herfather’s business — around $60,000 — that her father’s former business partnerssued her for after she refused to sell.

This aggravation came a few months after a great personaltragedy for Resnick, who lost her mother and her sister in the 1978 midaircollision between Pacific Southwest Airlines flight 182 and a single-engineCessna over San Diego. Resnick and her brother were devastated.

“My parents were never sick,” Resnick said. “They didn’tlive [long] enough to be sick.”

Resnick won a sizable settlement from her father’s formerpartners, but bad investments and attorney fees took most of the money.

Divorced, unemployed and lacking a college education,Resnick decided to handle her own financial destiny by becoming a stockbrokerat 40. She soon co-founded Dabney/Resnick/Imperial, an investment brokeragefirm that yielded $30 million annually in revenue, before selling her interestand creating The Resnick Group in 1996.

She celebrated her success by writing “I’ve Been Rich. I’veBeen Poor. Rich Is Better.” to help empower other women to do what she did:take control of their finances and live autonomously.

The tragic elements of Resnick’s family history have givenher an acute appreciation for what she has.

“I’ve already learned the importance of life andappreciating it,” Resnick said. “You can have everything else going, but if youdon’t have your health….”

Now living in Ojai, Resnick said, “My real goal is to helpwhoever is going to do it. I’m very anxious for a cure for this disease. Themore awareness the more money for research, so I feel good about that.”

For more information on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, call (213) 380-3800 or visit www.ccfa.org .