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Dear Friends,

My story is simple. 

After 3 years (May 2003-April 2006) of daily dizziness and water retention problems, badly overlooked by GPs, I ended up in the A&E at North Manchester General Hospital with severe tummy pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.

I had an emergency operation, that very same day, only to wake up in Intensive Care. Was there for 4 weeks. I woke up with no large colon and an ileostomy pouch. I was told by my surgeon that I had Crohn's Disease. To tell you the truth, I never heard of this illness. Thankfully, the nurses got me most of the info needed for me to have a start with my new life. The few first years were really difficult to deal with.

In January 2009, I had a J-Pouch done, to get rid of my stoma in the future. That operation did not go too well. I ended up getting MRSA, became anaemic, got blood clots in both of my lungs and had a Pulmonary Embolism. Was finally discharged on the 30th of June 2009, with a complete open wound and getting the district nurses to visit every day. And this for 2 years. It healed up in June 2011. I was looking forward to my stoma reversal, in 6 months.

On the 25th of December 2011, I started feeling a bit dizzy when eating my Christmas meal, but didn't think much about it. In February 2012, I got my first fistula, on my main tummy wound. My tummy was oozing again. Every 2 or 3 weeks, the fistula would build up and give me pain and oozing and make me feel sick. I was this way until March 2017. My consultant always hoped it was going to heal up for good again, but never did. 

So, last year, the 24th of April 2017, I had a joint operation to repair the fistula and in the same time, to deal with my gynaecologic 2-litre cyst. To be honest with you, this last 12 months have been, from far, the best months of my Crohn's life. This time I am absolutely looking forward to my stoma reversal. This was supposed to happen in December 2017, but psychologically, I wasn't ready yet. 

Now, I have fully recovered and can even walk up to 7 km, almost every day. Between February 2012 and March 2017, I spent much of my time lying in my bed and taking paracetamol and codeine tablets, all prescribed by my consultant.

This is one of the reasons, why I did take part to WALK IT in the past, and am going to take part in WALK IT Manchester, in June. I am thankful for every year behind me, since 2006, because I did fight for my life, back then.

So please donate kindly, by hitting the Button "Donate" and help me fundraise for WALK IT Manchester, for Crohn's and Colitis UK.

I am really looking forward to it.

Thank you, my dear Friends.

Michelle xxxx

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