Scott

Ulcerative Colitis is a condition that causes inflammation of the inner lining of the rectum and colon. Yes, I know that sounds very sciencey but it basically means tiny ulcers develop on the surface of the lining of the colon and these could bleed. In my case these ulcers did bleed when going to the toilet.

In 2012 I started to find blood when I went to the toilet. At first I didn’t think anything of it but then I got concerned. Obviously, it isn’t normal to find blood in the toilet so I went to the GP to find out what the matter was. My GP did some test on me. He told me that I had “piles” and gave me some cream. What a lot of help that did me … not!

I then went back to the GP and they referred me to a children’s clinic in Addenbrookes.

I had further appointments and tests but we still didn’t know what the matter was. During this time, I had stomach pains that hurt more than they should. I also felt very weak and lethargic.

In 2013 I had an endoscopy which is a camera down my throat and a colonoscopy which is a camera up my bottom. After all that time, we finally knew what was wrong with me and I got diagnosed after the operation. Being diagnosed was good but we needed to get some medicine that worked for me. Another thing that was a problem was, I was losing a lot of blood. I had a round of steroids but they didn’t do anything for me. As I was losing blood, I became very weak and tired. This meant that I needed to have a couple of iron infusions.

Whilst all this was happening and I had to move schools. During this time, I was very ill but my high school didn’t know. I spent a lot of time in medical. After a couple of weeks of this happening, I got introduced to a student support teacher. I could go to her room if I needed to get away from classes or if I felt anxious or ill. After all that time spent experimenting with different medicine, we finally found the correct medicine that would stop me bleeding. Suddenly everything was so much better. All the stomach aches stopped and I became much more energetic.

Then something amazing happened. I got invited to go on Dreamflight. Dreamflight is a charity who take 192 seriously ill or disabled children to Orlando Florida. We went to all the different theme parks there. We also got to swim with dolphins, which was amazing. We spent 10 days there. Ever since I got back, I became much more confident. At my school, there were auditions for the schools musical, I auditioned and didn’t think I would get a big part. I was so happy because I got the lead male role. Afterwards I was so much more confident and now I am addicted to Musical theatre and performing arts.

Last thing I have to say is, I learnt NOT to let the illness control me, I had to control the illness.

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