Hey y'all,

for those of you who do not know, I have had an inflammatory bowel disease known as Ulcerative Colitis since January 5th of 2024. I got officially diagnosed in July of 2024. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that primarily affects the colon and rectum, causing inflammation and ulcers in the lining of these organs. It's characterized by periods of active symptoms (flares) and periods of remission. Common symptoms include diarrhea (often with blood or pus), abdominal pain, and rectal bleeding. This disease has changed my life dramatically, one day I was a perfectly normal, healthy 20 year old and before I knew it I found myself on the toilet 30-40 times a day with the only thing keeping me company being bloody diarrhea and some of the worst stomach pain and cramps I have ever had in my entire life. To say this disease has affected my every day life is an understatement, since about late April of this year I have found myself in a flair up that has been getting worse by the day. I found that the Mesalamine suppositories my doctor prescribed to me was no longer doing anything to keep my UC at bay and I didn't realize how serious that was until this past month. We have gotten some blood tests done recently and we made the realization that I am borderline anemic from the amount of blood I lose on a daily basis and malnourished due to the inflammation in my colon and intestines keeping me from absorbing nutrients properly. It also doesn't help that the stomach pain really kills your appetite so overall I have been eating less and when I do eat it needs to be something bland and easy to digest to make it as easy on my stomach as possible, this has also caused me to lose about 12 pounds in the past month. I unfortunately also have not had an uninterrupted night of rest in two months now due to my body waking me up every 30 minutes to an hour like clockwork to use the restroom. All this to say, the reason I have started this GoFundMe is because I have now gotten to a point where doing my job at Disney is no longer an option for me at this moment. Yesterday July 17th was my breaking point and made me realize I am in no condition to be doing the physically demanding job I have. I ended up doing my first set of a shift that requires me to dance for about 10 minutes per set and I almost passed out during my first set. I started noticing my chest was getting really tight and I was struggling to breathe, my arms and legs started to tingle and it felt like they were slowly going numb so it was at that point that I decided to walk off the stage and flag down a character host to escort me backstage because I knew if I kept going I was going to pass out. For the rest of the shift my heart rate would not slow down even with me laying down for a solid 45 minutes. I felt incredibly weak and was struggling to keep my eyes open, I had to fight to keep my eyes from rolling to the back of my head at some points. Fast forward to the end of the shift and I am now on my way home, 10 minutes into the car ride I am hit with aggressive pain and cramping in my stomach and I end up not being able to hold it in any longer and I had a bowel movement while driving. Luckily I was right next to a gas station so I was able to use the restroom in there to do my business and after about 10 minutes of that I get back in my car to resume my journey home and about 10 minutes later before I can even get home I have another bowel movement. This is what finally did it for me. After two-three months of hell I finally made the decision that I am taking time off work until I am healthy again. I am plan on recording a video today or tomorrow going into more detail about my treatment options and sharing more details about the disease and my experience with it this past year and a half. Needless to say, this is the biggest challenge I have ever been faced with in my life and to be honest starting a Gofundme is not something I am proud of or even want to do but the unfortunate reality of my situation is this is the hand I have been dealt and this is my last resort option to make sure I am able to pay my car payment/insurance and have money for necessities in my time away from work. My plan is to be away from work for no longer than two months and I'm thinking I'll need to be gone for at least a month but I will be keeping y'all updated as to the progress I make in terms of getting better. Thank your for taking time to listen to a small portion of my story, if you'd like more details I plan on posting a video going more in depth on everything or if you don't want to wait for that you can personally reach out to me as well. I am confident I will be healthy again, right now I just have to keep sticking it out until my doctor finds me a medication that works for me. If you have read up to this point thank you for taking time out of your day to do so and I appreciate you <3.