Next month, myself and my amazing friends, family and boyfriend will be taking part in Walk It London for Crohn’s & Colitis UK. 

In July 2018 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. After becoming more and more ill; losing over a stone, going to the loo more than 10 times a day and throughout the night, becoming anaemic, dehydrated, flu like symptoms and having no energy to do anything, I was admitted to hospital. (I won’t go into detail on other symptoms because they’re a little graphic) I spent a week in hospital with doctors and nurses poking and prodding EVERYWHERE and being pumped with steroids to try and get it under control. I am now told I went into hospital with severe proctitis (not mild or moderate in the doctors words). 

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. As I came off the first set of steroids, symptoms started to return. I have now been on steroids four times in less than a year and have struggled with getting my UC under control. Living with a chronic illness is hard work! There is no cure so the hope is to get it under control and live a “normal” life with little or no symptoms. Unfortunately for me, I haven’t got this just yet and after seeing a specialist just recently, will be trying a new medication soon called biologics as steroids are not a long term solution. 

All of the medication I’m on has it’s side effects and not only struggling with this, I have struggled with the mental side of it. It’s not the most well known disease and can be embarrassing to explain to people what you’re going though. Knowing that I have this for life is a thought I find hard and I’m sure lots of people who suffer with the same or similar know exactly what I’m talking about.

Please donate to this amazing cause and help us hopefully one day find a cure for this horrible disease and I will be free from checking where the toilet is EVERYWHERE I go!