My name is Jake and I’m a senior in high school. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in the fall of my junior year. One interesting thing about me is that one day I decided to take up running, so I signed up for the Atlanta marathon. After only a month of training I completed the marathon - this made me really fall in love with the sport!

Wellness means different things to different people at different times. And while no single path leads us definitively toward or away from wellness, investing time in the things we love, making supportive connections with friends and family, and caring for ourselves can have an impact. PAC members – Becky, Linden and Quint – share their thoughts on wellness, creativity, self-care and community in this post.

My name is Catalina - I’m a current co-chair of the ICN Patient Advisory Council, a social/clinical research assistant at the University of North Carolina and will be starting medical school soon. I recently gave a presentation at the Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence about emotional labor, empathy and how to navigate these concepts when working with patient advocates. I wanted to share some of my talking points with you here.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of having a support system. Whether it be friends, family, or even strangers…in that Facebook group you joined a few weeks ago. Having support keeps you grounded, and I find it can have beneficial effects on both my mental and physical well-being.

Sure, my parents drilled the whole “eat healthy, sleep well, drink water” thing into me and my sisters, but that was never entirely applicable to me. I had different rules. Having had Crohn’s disease since an early age, I was always seriously underweight and struggled to get enough nutrients. The goal for the first decade of my life was to eat as much as possible and specifically fatty foods that would build up my mass. But I was never hungry anyway; eating always ended in pain so getting enough food into me was truly quite difficult. I even tried supplemental nutrition drinks like Pediasure, Boost, and Kids Essentials but it wasn’t enough to help me gain weight.

High school can be one of the most interesting times of your life. It’s fast-paced and you are faced with new challenges, experiences, subjects and adventures! High school is a challenge on its own and having IBD makes it even more difficult, especially because of its unpredictability. Going through one of the worst flares of my life during high school, I missed tons of school, and sometimes even when I was present, my body was so tired that I could not pay attention well. It was around this time that my school nurse told me it would be a good idea to get a 504 plan.

Despite being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) in 2016, it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t still be playing competitive basketball. In 2017 and 2018, my high school team traveled nationally and internationally to play, and it was an unforgettable experience. Basketball is a part of who I am. For someone who is just learning how to best manage IBD - I wanted to share my learning tools and hindsight as a competitive athlete. Do not give up who you are because of IBD - you will need to adjust and pay attention to your body, but you can continue to compete. There will be good days and bad days and that holds true for anything and everyone.

After suffering for months (including losing 20 pounds, requiring blood transfusions, missing junior prom because I was in the hospital…) I was told I have ulcerative colitis, a disease with no cure, and that I would need medication for life. Hearing this traumatizing news, I knew my life would be changed forever. I thought I would never recover, and the sickness would continue. I did not know anyone else that had IBD, and I felt alone.

Looking back on my sickest times, I can see very clearly that the one thing I wished I had was someone else with IBD who I could talk to...someone I could relate to and who could understand what it’s like.

Having a parent partner has incredibly enriched the care that our Pediatric Gastroenterology department provides to our patients and their families. It brings a fresh and enthusiastic perspective to our group meetings and has provided valuable feedback for our IBD informational packet that will be given to families.

We have a problem. The problem is that people seem to be focused on the what of our ostomies and not on the why. Having an ostomy can drastically improve someone’s health; it can even save lives. For many of us ostomates, getting one is not a choice we have the liberty to make.