I was seventeen years old when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s and Colitis. I was still in high school, and it was my senior year. I was an early graduate, so I didn’t have a full year left to go, and everything was going fine to start off the school year. I was working at Hardee’s and hanging out with friends and everything was normal…until we got into the middle of the school year and I started feeling sick. I started getting bursitis on my elbow and my hip started going out. I would be at work, and my hip would go completely out, so I would walk with a limp, and I would be in so much pain. Then, I started waking up with my eyes swollen, and it would mess with my vision. Everything looked blurry — my eyes would be so swollen. I started to have no appetite and was losing weight drastically. I also started using the bathroom a lot, running back and forth to the toilet, and so much blood was coming out the other end. I was really scared, and didn’t know what was going on. I was missing both school and work frequently. I kept getting fevers over 100 degrees, and I kept going to my doctor (she thought it was because I was dehydrated or I wasn’t eating enough fruit and eating the right foods). She told me to drink more water, so I tried that, but nothing was working for me.
Thanksgiving was one day away, and I was throwing up and pooping. I had tried drinking this tea my PawPaw gave me; it was lemon, ginger, honey tea (he made it himself). I drank it, and my stomach started burning. I had never felt that type of pain ever in my life; it hurt so bad that I actually fell to the floor screaming. So, they carried me to bed, and I fell asleep. It’s Thanksgiving now, and everybody was getting dressed up and ready to go to the family house. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go, because I was really weak and could hardly walk, but I pushed through it, and my sister helped me put my clothes on, and we went. I barely ate, but I loved being around family, so I made the best of it.
Later on that night, I was non-stop throwing up and pooping. My Momma was scared, so she called the paramedics. I was immediately rushed to the hospital, and my blood pressure shot up, along with my heart rate. They assumed it was my pancreas that ruptured, so they wanted to do immediate surgery, but my mom said no. So, they wanted to see if they could go in without touching anything (as far as cutting anything out of me). My mom gave permission to do a colonoscopy, and so they did, and they found my stomach full of blood and ulcers, colitis, and polyps. They immediately put me on bed alert because my strength was gone. The reason my strength was gone is because I had Rheumatoid Arthritis that also came with my Crohn’s disease. They diagnosed me with Crohn’s and Colitis (with Rheumatoid Arthritis) and told my family that “it runs in the family.”
At this time, we also found out that my aunt on my Dad’s side has it, and it’s common for it to be found in the intestines, but mine was discovered in my colon…which makes me have a high chance of getting colon cancer. I was advised to stay in the hospital for a few months, and I almost wasn’t able to graduate. During my stay in the hospital, I was depressed, lonely, confused.
Nobody will ever understand what people who have Crohn’s and Colitis go through, unless you are going through it yourself. We are most definitely strong; the pain of flare-ups is truly unbearable. Crohn’s disease is called a “silent killer” because before finding out I had it, it was sitting in my stomach for all those years, and I had absolutely no idea. I always tell people to go get a colonoscopy because with Crohn’s disease, you never know if it’s there or not.
Nobody likes to talk about these things because it can be embarrassing. To my fellow Crohnies, we are warriors — we are beyond strong. Nobody could ever imagine everything we go through, and sometimes it’s hard to win the battle with it. This is my story. I was young when I was diagnosed. I’m now 22 years old, and I’m still fighting it. I share my story on all my platforms and love answering questions about it. I’m open about it, and I love how having Crohn’s Disease not only gave me strength, but the courage to help others.
