More Than Skin Deep

Nothing could prepare me for the ravages of a gut-wrenching autoimmune disease. As an 18-year old university student, I was fit and healthy, and the future looked pretty damn perfect . . . That was until I started experiencing stomach cramps and diarrhoea. I tried to ignore the worsening symptoms, labelling blame to a nervous tummy, too much food, or alcohol just not agreeing with me. A year later, I was diagnosed with severe Ulcerative Colitis. This is my brutally honest and candid journey into the debilitating and humiliating world of a silent disease. I share my story in the hope it will be of support to anyone with this disease, as well as give insight into what we endure, and note how you can lose the life you live, only to gain a new appreciation of the life you are given back. Feel free to laugh along at my dramas and mishaps, like I now do. And for anyone whose body lets them down, I pray you will be like me and bounce back with a better understanding of health, as well as the significance of family and friends, and the importance of surrendering to the unexpected detours and plot twists life tends to throw at us when we least imagine it.