Taylor's Treatment: Help Conquering Crohn's
Donation protected
Bowel resection, goodbye intestines.
Hi, my name is Taylor, and I've been battling with severe, treatment resistant Crohn's Disease for over 10 years. I usually prefer to say that I'm "living with Crohn's" because I don' let it get in the way of living my life, but this past year has reminded me just how hard I have to fight.
Crohn's Disease is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation throughout one's digestive tract. This leads to extreme pain, an inability to absorb nutrients, internal bleeding, fear of bowel incontinence, and extreme fatigue. Because this illness limits the absorption of nutrients (the foundation of life), other body systems are also affected. Low muscle mass and bone density, joint and skin issues, kidney stones, and others. This is not even taking into the account the side effects of the medications used for treatment. Crohn's can greatly vary in severity, from mild to extremely severe. The universe clearly knew I was hardcore enough to handle the extremely severe category, without Crohn's I would have become far too powerful.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's at the age of 14, weighing 80lbs, unable to even sit upright in a waiting room chair. Instead of missing my first ever high school final exams, I decided to take them while lying on the floor of my high school's staff conference room. I went from that conference room straight to a hospital bed, I've always been determined to keep my illness from controlling my life.
Unfortunately, this has been harder than I'd expected. Since my diagnoses I've had over 20 surgeries and procedures, I don't know the exact number because I've lost count. I've had surgeries to remove kidney stones with shockwaves or incisions through my back. I've had multiple to remove and repair infected tissue that stemmed from bacteria in wounds burrowing through my intestinal wall. I had to be on total intravenous nutrition for 12 weeks where I was unable to eat at all.
The most serious surgeries that I've experienced have been those in which they cut the intestines themselves. I had a colostomy bag for the second semester of my senior year of high school, and throughout most of the following summer, luckily I was able to get it reversed right before leaving for college. At this time I also had a bowel resection, where they removed the part of my intestines that were too diseased to recover. Unfortunately, this was the part that does the majority of my vitamin B12 absorption, so I now take an injection once a month to make up for that. After these surgeries I felt healthier than I had since before being diagnosed, and while my Crohn's has flared regularly since, the severity of my flares were decreased.
Throughout this past year my health has gotten progressively worse. Because my Crohn's is resistant to medication I've tried nearly everything available but nothing seems to work. I'm currently taking an immunosuppressant injection every 8 weeks. I work full time, am in college part time, and largely support myself independently. I need to travel from Boston to south western Connecticut to see any of my doctors, which has made it more difficult to keep up with my illness. Since the beginning of 2019 I've lost nearly 30lbs, it has been difficult to get myself to eat because of the fear of the extreme pain that always follows, and when I do eat the food isn't broken down and absorbed anyway. My constant inflammation has caused thickening in my intestinal wall that is irreversible, similar to scar tissue. This thickening has lead to a stricture (narrowing of the intestinal tract), which causes pain and can lead to a blockage. I am at the point now that I need to have another bowel resection to remove this unfixable part.
Recovering after a bowel resection can be pretty intensive and I expect to be out of work for around a month. I've been mostly unable to work all summer with my condition worsening. I work as a bartender/server at a restaurant on the Boston Harbor so it is largely a seasonal job, most of my income is made during the summer. This is extremely poor timing, and while I'm still trying to work as much as I can it's becoming too difficult to pretend I'm not in pain and exhausted.
If you know me I'm sure you know how much I hate complaining, how badly I want to handle my situation independently, and how opposed I am to asking for help. At this point I feel I don't have a choice and have had to admit to myself that maybe I can't do this alone. My surgery will be within the next month, an update will follow once it's scheduled. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through it right now, but I know there's no other option than continuing on as well as I can. If you would want to help me afford my medical treatments, traveling, and missing work it would be so so appreciated.
Thanks,
Taylor Walsh
Hi, my name is Taylor, and I've been battling with severe, treatment resistant Crohn's Disease for over 10 years. I usually prefer to say that I'm "living with Crohn's" because I don' let it get in the way of living my life, but this past year has reminded me just how hard I have to fight.
Crohn's Disease is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation throughout one's digestive tract. This leads to extreme pain, an inability to absorb nutrients, internal bleeding, fear of bowel incontinence, and extreme fatigue. Because this illness limits the absorption of nutrients (the foundation of life), other body systems are also affected. Low muscle mass and bone density, joint and skin issues, kidney stones, and others. This is not even taking into the account the side effects of the medications used for treatment. Crohn's can greatly vary in severity, from mild to extremely severe. The universe clearly knew I was hardcore enough to handle the extremely severe category, without Crohn's I would have become far too powerful.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's at the age of 14, weighing 80lbs, unable to even sit upright in a waiting room chair. Instead of missing my first ever high school final exams, I decided to take them while lying on the floor of my high school's staff conference room. I went from that conference room straight to a hospital bed, I've always been determined to keep my illness from controlling my life.
Unfortunately, this has been harder than I'd expected. Since my diagnoses I've had over 20 surgeries and procedures, I don't know the exact number because I've lost count. I've had surgeries to remove kidney stones with shockwaves or incisions through my back. I've had multiple to remove and repair infected tissue that stemmed from bacteria in wounds burrowing through my intestinal wall. I had to be on total intravenous nutrition for 12 weeks where I was unable to eat at all.
The most serious surgeries that I've experienced have been those in which they cut the intestines themselves. I had a colostomy bag for the second semester of my senior year of high school, and throughout most of the following summer, luckily I was able to get it reversed right before leaving for college. At this time I also had a bowel resection, where they removed the part of my intestines that were too diseased to recover. Unfortunately, this was the part that does the majority of my vitamin B12 absorption, so I now take an injection once a month to make up for that. After these surgeries I felt healthier than I had since before being diagnosed, and while my Crohn's has flared regularly since, the severity of my flares were decreased.
Throughout this past year my health has gotten progressively worse. Because my Crohn's is resistant to medication I've tried nearly everything available but nothing seems to work. I'm currently taking an immunosuppressant injection every 8 weeks. I work full time, am in college part time, and largely support myself independently. I need to travel from Boston to south western Connecticut to see any of my doctors, which has made it more difficult to keep up with my illness. Since the beginning of 2019 I've lost nearly 30lbs, it has been difficult to get myself to eat because of the fear of the extreme pain that always follows, and when I do eat the food isn't broken down and absorbed anyway. My constant inflammation has caused thickening in my intestinal wall that is irreversible, similar to scar tissue. This thickening has lead to a stricture (narrowing of the intestinal tract), which causes pain and can lead to a blockage. I am at the point now that I need to have another bowel resection to remove this unfixable part.
Recovering after a bowel resection can be pretty intensive and I expect to be out of work for around a month. I've been mostly unable to work all summer with my condition worsening. I work as a bartender/server at a restaurant on the Boston Harbor so it is largely a seasonal job, most of my income is made during the summer. This is extremely poor timing, and while I'm still trying to work as much as I can it's becoming too difficult to pretend I'm not in pain and exhausted.
If you know me I'm sure you know how much I hate complaining, how badly I want to handle my situation independently, and how opposed I am to asking for help. At this point I feel I don't have a choice and have had to admit to myself that maybe I can't do this alone. My surgery will be within the next month, an update will follow once it's scheduled. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through it right now, but I know there's no other option than continuing on as well as I can. If you would want to help me afford my medical treatments, traveling, and missing work it would be so so appreciated.
Thanks,
Taylor Walsh
Organizer
Taylor Walsh
Organizer
Brookline, MA
Inspired to help? Start a fundraiser for someone you know
