My journey with ulcerative colitis didn’t follow a straight line.
It began quietly, with symptoms that were easy to dismiss. It escalated into years of medications, hospital visits, false hope, temporary relief, and relentless setbacks.
There were moments where drugs worked — and moments where they failed spectacularly. There were periods of stability that felt like a return to normal, only to be pulled away again.
Vedolizumab gave me four years of life back.
Covid took stability away.
And eventually, my body made the decision that medicine no longer could.
Surgery wasn’t a dramatic rescue.
It was a necessary step after everything else had been tried.
What followed wasn’t instant freedom — but it was the end of a cycle that had dominated my adult life.
I lost my colon.
I gained time.
I lost the version of my body I’d always known.
I gained a future that felt possible again.
Living with a stoma isn’t the story people expect to hear — but it’s the one that gave me my life back. And more importantly, it gave me a voice.
If sharing this helps even one person feel less alone, less afraid, or more informed about their choices, then every part of this journey — even the hardest parts — has meaning beyond me.
This isn’t a story about illness.
It’s a story about endurance, adaptation, and choosing life when the options narrow.
And it’s still being written.