Trek Kenya 2025

Crohn’s and Colitis UK will always be a charity very close to my heart. My journey with Crohn’s has been life changing, fraught with many different physical and emotional hurdles however it is has also shaped me into the person I am today. It has gifted me with resilience and compassion and allowed me to meet some incredible and inspirational people. I am proud to say that I have been a member of the charities Young Adults Advisory Panel for 2 years and have had the opportunity to get involved first hand in the amazing work that they do working tirelessly to improve diagnosis and treatment, fund research and raise vital awareness.

Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease in which parts of the gut become swollen, inflamed and ulcerated. This can cause a number of debilitating symptoms including pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, weight loss, joint pain, fever, fatigue and more. Crohn’s is a lifelong condition and right now there is no cure, however medications or surgery, or a combination of both, can help to keep symptoms under control and prevent long term problems. Those living with Crohn’s may experience periods of good health known as remission as well as times when symptoms are more active known as flare-ups. It is an unpredictable illness which can have major implications on everyday life if not diagnosed early and treated appropriately.

After three years of undiagnosed illness and several hospital admissions I finally received a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease in July 2021, only a month after graduating from university and starting my first post-graduate job. I immediately began treatment with immunosuppressant medications and when these proved ineffective I was moved onto infusions of a biologic medication every 8 weeks. Over the next year I experienced a host of new symptoms including hair thinning and extreme weight loss, and in June 2022 my Crohn’s finally caught up to me when I experienced my worst flare yet. My bowel was so inflamed that I had become septic, and I was admitted to hospital urgently as my body had began shutting down. I spent 5 days in hospital and upon release I had lost a staggering amount of weight and the symptoms of my flare up had not eased. In desperation I booked a private appointment with a colorectal surgeon and within 1 week I was in the operating theatre undergoing a procedure I had hoped would relieve my symptoms and allow me to finally reach remission. Instead, I was being told by my surgeon that I had one of the worst cases of Crohn’s disease he had ever seen and I would require surgery urgently to avoid my Crohn’s becoming life threatening. In October 2022 I made the incredibly difficult decision to have surgery to receive a stoma bag. This surgery gifted me with a second shot at life and allowed me to regain my sense of freedom. I travelled with friends, moved out of home again and started a new job after losing my previous one during the worst of my illness. However, many months on and the surgery site had still failed to heal and just when I thought my luck was turning, I was diagnosed with a rare skin complication, occurring in only 4% of cases, known as Pyoderma Gangrenosum which is characterised by extreme pain. After being referred to many doctors, most of which had no previous experience with this condition, it was obvious that the only option was more surgery. In January 2024 I faced my toughest surgery yet and following 7 hours in theatre I spent 10 nights in the High Dependency Unit at Belfast City Hospital. The recovery from this surgery brought some of the toughest moments of my life however now, just over a year on, I am at the healthiest I have ever been. Crohn’s is a lifelong condition so although I will never be cured of this illness, my symptoms are now manageable with medication, and I can live my life again thanks to the incredible care I received from my surgical team.