We Have the Power
This week is Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week. This is something very near to my heart. Five years ago I was diagnosed
with Crohn’s disease, a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, at the age of sixteen. While most teenagers my age were out getting their driver’s license and watching R-rated movies, I was in the hospital. I wasn’t allowed food for almost two weeks and relied on a dilaudid pump to be able to sit upright in my hospital bed.
When I woke up from an emergency colonoscopy and heard my surgeon throwing around terms like “Inflammatory Bowel Disease” and “ostomy”, I was confused. I’d never heard those words before, and now suddenly I was forced to understand them.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease is chronic and incurable illness where my immune system attacks my digestive system. This causes many symptoms such as pain, malnutrition, ulcers, strictures, and fistulas. The only treatments for IBD are dangerous and toxic drugs or surgery, often to remove parts of the digestive system. IBD affect 1.6 million people in America alone, and it does not discriminate. In fact, the majority of IBD patients are diagnosed as children or young adults.
To date I’ve had 7 surgeries and 8 colonoscopies, swallowed millions of pills, watched as chemo drugs were infused into my body, and spent countless sleepless nights in a hospital bed. All of this, and my lifelong journey has only just begun.
Looking back, if I had known what Crohn’s disease was when I woke up from that fateful scope, I would have not been so afraid. Knowledge is power, after all. So now I’m asking that we all become aware of IBDs and create a world that is free from fear of the unknown. Because when we gather together and fight as one, IBD’s cannot win.
If you are interested in learning more about Inflammatory Bowel Disease, feel free to ask me questions or visit the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America