My story starts in first grade. After a month of constant stomach pains, going to the bathroom A LOT and sure signs of some sort of IBD, my grandfather ( who is a gastroenterologist) decided I should see a G.I. doctor.

 

At first, they had no idea what was going on, but finally they figured out what was wrong with me. I definitely have IBD, but to this day it’s uncertain whether it’s Crohns or Colitis. In third grade I was a very social child. I had 12 people in my 3rd grade class, so I thought my social skills and humor were top notch. Too bad most of my “friends” and people I talked to were nurses at the hospital. I loved making them laugh and on Valentine’s Day I would walk around and hand out chocolates to the nurses,doctors and people taking walks around my floor. Getting a big surgery at age 8 was hard for me. I got used to a whole new way of life! Going to the bathroom would never be the same!!!

 

It took a little bit, but by age 9 I mastered bag changes and bag emptying-I was a pro! All my friends were so supportive! They visited me in the hospital, asked me questions and most important to me, came to the take steps walks! When I graduated a private school with 12 people in my grade who all knew about my ostomy, to a public school with 200 people in my grade who never even heard the term ostomy, it was a little weird. If I slipped it into a conversation accidentally, I would have to explain everything. It was really different!

 

In seventh grade I decided to start sharing my story. Starting with a blog for my family. I didn’t write on it much, but one of my posts was featured on Ostomy Connection and the Great Bowel Movement! I was pretty proud of those. I started my Instagram account to reach out to people with IBD and ostomies. I mostly posted “relatable content” which was ostomy/medical  struggles I thought other people could relate to. As I got more followers I started posting about me! I even had people from my public school follow me! It felt great to finally be so confident and share my story with my friends!

 

I am in high school at the moment. I love playing Tennis, I love music, playing the piano,bakeing, photography, making videos and just being myself. My ostomy has definitely made me such a better person and changed my life in so many ways. 

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