Nicole's Ongoing IBD Battle

My name is Nicole and I was diagnosed with moderate to severe Crohn's disease back in 2011.

Once I was put on a medication after my diagnosis I was feeling more normal until December 2014 I was raced to emergency and ended up having a big portion of my colon and small bowel removed aswell as have a stoma created as my bowel had perforated due to an undiagnosed stricture caused by Crohn's. I had multiple complications after this surgery and spent months in and out of hospital with reoccuring sepsis.

By the end of 2020 I noticed changes again and in 2021 it was confirmed that my Crohn's was once again active. I was placed on a different medication but within 2 weeks was back in hospital with an abscess then another abcess was found in the same spot in February 2022 aswell.

In June 2022 I took myself to ED in the hopes to have answers to why my drain site wouldnt heal. When I voiced my concerns of a fistula I was told "it can't be that as there was no sign of that back in February and it would smell".

December 2022 my gastroenterologist admitted me to try get some answers, my scan showed that I now have enterocutaneous fistulating Crohn's disease. I was meant to have more major bowel surgery between Christmas and New Year but due to the public system being stretched beyond capacity that never happened and I have once again been left waiting.

I'm hoping to raise enough funds to afford private consultations to hopefully get me back to living my life instead of just existing.