Posted by Ceilidh Kiegle on July 11, 2017
Hi, I'm Ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee). I'm 15 years old and attend school at Mount Mansfield Union High School. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in August of 2016. One thing most people don't know about me is that other than Crohn’s, I used to have a decently large strawberry hemangioma (basically a collection of fat and tissue). It was harmless, but it made me bite my lip a lot, so I had it removed when I was nine.
Probably my largest struggle with my disease is the effect Crohn’s has had on my social life. With Crohn’s, I think it’s easy to become overwhelmed with loneliness because you don’t feel well enough to spend time working on relationships. Since getting diagnosed in August, I've missed a great deal of school and lost touch with quite a few friends. Now that I'm starting to get into remission, I'm returning to school and finding the relationships with the friends who stayed with me have become even stronger than before.
Not only have existing relationships been strengthened, but I’m finding that new friendships have formed.
I was attracted to the PAC by the idea of forming new friendships with other teenagers with the same disease as me. The group helps make Crohn’s feel a lot less isolating and more like an opportunity to work together to help find a solution to problems and struggles we face, together. I hope that my future in the PAC involves raising awareness for Crohn’s disease and helping others with Crohn’s feel less alone.
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