Our Story
This is Jillian Michelle
This is Dragon
Our Team
Our Mission
Where We’ve Been
Charity
Dragon Poop Campaign
Contact
Privacy Policy

Our Story

adventure dragon about pic cropped4

Our story begins in the hospital…where a girl without intestines dreams up befriends a kitten dragon with self-confidence issues (because she drew him with too short of legs). Bonded together by mutual dreams of seeing the world but living in bodies too small and weak to reach their true potential, the two form an unlikely pair and vow to help each other achieve what doctors fear the girl cannot. Together they (and a team of dragonriders) aspire to explore every continent and encourage all whom they encounter to never stop believing in their dreams.

This is Jillian Michelle

Jillian celebrating her birthday despite a 106 degree F fever
Jillian celebrating her birthday despite a 106 degree F fever

Jillian is the creator of Adventure Dragon and the biggest dork on this website. She does not have a large intestine, survived over a year without a single bite of food to eat, and even had mouse DNA injected into her blood. Being sick for half her life taught her that you can’t always control the things that happen to you, but you CAN control the way you handle those experiences. It was after graduating as Valedictorian from her high school — ready to take on the world– and then almost immediately landing in the hospital with a disease that would forever change her life that Jillian first learned one of life’s hardest lessons: hard work doesn’t guarantee success, dreams don’t come true just because you want them to, good grades don’t cure those who are sick and dying, and sometimes no amount of proper planning can keep your life from falling apart. But that doesn’t mean you should give up.

Sometimes the road up ahead becomes a little choppy and you have to take a detour, but as long as you keep going, you can find another route to get to wherever you want to be. Sometimes that longer, more scenic route ends up being the most beautiful.

And sometimes it’s filled with friendly dragons.

More About Jillian Michelle

This is Dragon

Lost in a world of sickness, the girl came face to face with her demons… And fought them with a dragon.adventure dragon transparent name temp

Dragon was born out of a desire to create something positive. And something that mattered. When everything else around her was crumbling and falling apart, Jillian wanted to build something that could not be destroyed. So she designed Dragon in her own likeness — a small, frail little kitten with adventure dreams and doubts that rival her own. Dragon wants to see the world but is limited by the constraints of his body size. Small and weak, he dreams of becoming a dragon because he thinks nothing would be able to stop him if he were bigger, tougher, and more powerful. So he plays pretend. He puts on a dragon costume and pretends to be strong. And through his adventures, he ultimately learns that he carried all the strength he ever needed inside himself all along.

 Our Team (the dragon fam)

Team List for about page

View Full Team Here

Our Mission

Our mission can be summed up in one word – INSPIRE.

Above all else, we want to inspire —

  • inspire people to see the world,
  • inspire people to be courageous,
  • inspire people to be kind,
  • inspire people to believe in themselves and their potential,
  • inspire people to dream,
  • inspire people to go after those dreams,
  • inspire people to collect experiences rather than things,
  • inspire people to truly live, not just exist,
  • inspire people to try to better the world,
  • inspire people to better themselves…and to never stop trying to better themselves,
  • inspire people to inspire others,
  • inspire people to make a difference,
  • and inspire people live a life that they can be proud of.

Our Slogan – Life is an adventure. Don’t forget to live.

Where We’ve Been

Where We've Been Map

We’ve got a long way to go, but we know we’ll get there! Dragon has adventured to the United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Iran, and Ecuador. But there are so many more places we’d like to go!

If you are currently living in any of the countries we haven’t yet explored (or have travel plans to visit them soon), and if you have a fondness for cute little kittens dragons, as well as photography or journalism, you may make a great addition to our family! We’re always looking for new Dragonriders to join our team and help us bring Dragon all over the world. Plus, we give you lots of free stuff!

Write For Us

Charity

Adventure Dragon has committed to donating five percent of all funds raised by this site to research for intestinal cancer and diseases including Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and Colon Cancer. Donations are made directly to CCFA and United Ostomy Association of America.

All other money raised by this site goes towards paying Jillian’s own medical bills as well as towards improving and maintaining this website. If you have any suggestions for improvement, we’d love to hear from you!

Contact Us

Dragon Poop Campaign to End Intestinal Diseases

Did you know that more people die each year from intestinal cancer than from breast cancer?* Yet media is saturated with save-the-booby talk, pink ribbons, and viral ta-ta videos… while remaining almost completely devoid of talking about what goes on once you’re home in your own castle and have to take a trip to the porcelain throne. When’s the last time you’ve been in a grocery check-out line and had the cashier ask you if you’d like to donate a dollar to intestinal research? Or to don a blue ribbon in support of colon cancer? Did you even have any idea that blue is the appropriate color to show intestinal support before reading the sentence that I just wrote? Where are all the Campbell’s soup cans printed in pretty blue or lilac labels that should be sitting next to the pastel pink ones already dominating grocery store shelves during the month of October? Here’s a quick fact– Ostomy Awareness Day is celebrated every year in October–that’s right–the same month as breast cancer awareness month…and is often represented by light purple ribbons. But how many people do you see wearing purple ribbons in October? Official Colon Cancer Awareness month happens every year in March, but the love we show its blue ribbons pales in comparison to the abundance of pink love we show for breasts every year, don’tcha think?

And I realize that breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women, so I’m definitely not trying to diminish its importance. I want to make that clear. Boobies are awesome. And it’s great that we’re talking about them and trying to save them. They’re squishy and jiggly pillows of fun stuff. And poop is… Well, poop is poop. It’s not cute. And it’s definitely not fun to talk about. But it deserves and needs a dialogue as well.  So what if we found a way to make it cute? A way to get people to start talking?

The sad reality is that it’s taboo in our society to talk about poop. But it shouldn’t be. And we’ve got a plan to change that.

Details coming soon.

*For 2013 figures (the latest available from the CDC), 51,813 people in the United States died from colorectal cancer, and 41,324 people died from breast cancer.

 

4 Comments

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  1. Hi Jillian, I replied to your Female Travel Bloggers post along with a bunch of other ladies, and I am so excited to become a Dragonrider in London and Paris… since I’m already a chauffeur for Stowaway Biscuit and “dragonrider” sounds way cooler. 🙂 I am feeling really inspired by your strength, determination and positive outlook. Wishing you and dragon all the best!

    1. Hahaha yesss it looks like you’ll be able to rest up a bit from chauffeuring because Dragon’s convinced he can teach you both to fly. He’s super excited to meet Stowaway Biscuit and have two new friends to show him around town! Thanks bunches for all the kind words, and see ya soon! <3 <3

  2. I just stumbled onto the site and I think it is amazing! First, you are an incredible and inspiring person. Second, you want to help and inspire others! We have a family travel blog, even our dog Scout blogs. We would love to be Dragonriders. We currently travel mostly in the US but are heading to Canada this summer. We would love to partner with you if dragon would like to visit British Columbia. Either way, you’ve definitely gained new fans and followers. God bless you and we hope to work with you.
    Sincerely,
    Cheryl
    Mama Adventuredawg

    1. Thank you so much! Your sweet comments just made my day! I bet Scout is an excellent blogger, and he and Dragon would make good friends! :p
      And Dragon says he’d love to visit British Columbia. <3