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Brave Teenager With Crohn’s Disease Shares Photos Of Her Scars, Ileostomy Bag to Inspire Other Patients

Published

7 years ago

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Brave Teenager With Crohn’s Disease Shares Photos Of Her Scars, Ileostomy Bag to Inspire Other Patients

In a world in which we’re constantly inundated with images of what the perfect body “should” look like, it’s hard to feel great about your body unless it meshes with what you see in movies and magazines. That’s why body positivity — the movement of celebrating the body you’re in — is so important.

But while body positivity has helped us embrace people of all shapes and sizes, making the choice to celebrate yourself if you’ve got a visible (or invisible) disability can still stir up plenty of fear. Aimee Rouski, a 19-year-old who’s living with Crohn’s disease is facing those insecurities head on — by posting pictures of herself with and without her ileostomy bag.

In a post on Facebook, Rouski detailed the surgeries she’s been through and their aftermath. With her simple and powerful message, she’s letting the world know something incredibly important: No matter what your body may look like, everyone has the right to feel beautiful and everyone deserves to feel good about their body. Having an illness can and will change you, but as Rouski points out, it’s not something anyone should ever be ashamed of.

This is Rouski’s message:

I’ve wanted to do this for a while because I always see body posi posts for weight, but not many for disabilities / invisible illnesses.

First off I have Crohn’s disease, it’s a serious incurable illness that nearly killed me, not just a stomach ache like most people seem to think.

A person with crohns will go through many different treatments including surgery, and it’s the surgery I want to touch on now.

My Crohns has left me with a permanent ileostomy, no large intestine, colon, rectum, anus, or inner thigh muscles as they were used for plastic surgery on my wounds.

I’ve always been okay with the stuff that has happened to me, but some people have real difficulties accepting these things so I just want to say this.

No one will know unless you tell them.

People who know will still love you and still find you beautiful.

Your illness is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about <3

And here are the pictures she posted:

Rouski’s post has already garnered thousands of comments of support, including those of people who live with the same condition that she does. One woman, who also suffers from Crohn’s, commented that she’d been feeling exhausted and feeling depressed due to a flare-up of the disease. Seeing the pictures, she wrote, “really helped me today.”

In 2014, Bethany Townsend, another woman living with Crohn’s, pursued a modeling career and was celebrated for posting pictures of herself with her colostomy bags, inspiring more people with the disease to come forward and share their stories. Here’s hoping that Rouski’s brave words and pictures will continue this trend.

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Health

Woman, 24, With Cervical Cancer Given Months to Live After Docs Refused Smear Test Because She was ‘Too Young’

A WOMAN was told that she was “too young” for a smear test – only to be given months to live when docs finally discovered she had cervical cancer.

Published

4 years ago

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June 3, 2019

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Woman, 24, With Cervical Cancer Given Months to Live After Docs Refused Smear Test Because She was ‘Too Young’

A WOMAN was told that she was “too young” for a smear test – only to be given months to live when docs finally discovered she had cervical cancer.

Katie Bourne started to suffer from belly pains, doctors assumed she had Crohn’s disease.

Then aged 24, docs refused to give her a smear test as she was too young.

Katie was finally diagnosed with stage-three cervical cancer back in February, when she was warned that unless she started treatment immediately, she’d only have 18 months left to live.

Katie told Teesside Live that all of her symptoms had pointed towards cervical cancer but that her referrals for smears were turned down because of her age.

She said she started to experience stomach pains in July last year and went her GP in November.

“They took some swabs and said I was booked in for a smear,” she told the site.

“But when I went back they said they weren’t going to do the smear and I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.

“The pain never went with the medication they gave me for that.”

In fact, after her cancer was picked up, it turned out that there was nothing wrong with her bowel at all.

In February, Katie collapsed in pain at her job at Next and spent the next three nights in hospital – where she was denied a smear again.

Symptoms of cervical cancer

The devastating thing about cervical cancer is that there are no obvious symptoms during the early stages.

But vaginal bleeding can often be a tell-tale sign – especially if it occurs after sex, in between periods or after the menopause.

Women are offered smear tests from the age of 25 which look for any abnormalities in the cervix, but if you are under the age bracket, and you notice any of the following symptoms, you’ve got to push for testing.

Other warning signs include:

  • pain and discomfort during sex
  • unusual or unpleasant vaginal discharge
  • pain in your lower back or pelvis

And if it spreads to other organs, the signs can include:

  • pain in your lower back or pelvis
  • severe pain in your side or back caused by your kidneys
  • constipation
  • peeing or pooing more than usual
  • losing control of your bladder or bowels
  • blood in your pee
  • swelling in one or both legs
  • severe vaginal bleeding

“Because of my age I was still declined a smear and when the pains went they sent me home,” she said.

“My GP had sent two gynae referrals in the December and January but both were declined. All my symptoms have always been the same.

“And when I Googled them they always brought up cervical cancer.”

A third referral was accepted and a smear and scan confirmed Katie’s worst fears.

She was told that she had stage three cancer which had spread to both sides of her pelvis.

Katie began chemo last month, but docs don’t know how well she’ll respond to it yet.

Without treatment, her prognosis is just 18 months.

Now 25, she’s already set about making a bucket list.

Top of her list is marrying her partner of four years, Leighanne Prior.

The couple had planned to get hitched in Las Vegas in the next few years but following Katie’s diagnoses, they’ve decided to get wed next month at Middlesbrough Registry Office.

And in January, they’ll be honeymooning in the Maldives.

Another thing in the bucket list is to “finish all the Real Housewives series!”

Cheers For Smears

Fabulous has partnered with cervical cancer charity Jo’s Trust to launch #CheersForSmears, a campaign aiming to ensure women across the UK attend their screenings, no matter what.

With around 3,200 women in the UK now being diagnosed with the disease every year – a number that is set to rise by around 40% within 20 years – and one in three dying from it, it’s clear we’re facing a cervical cancer time bomb.

Many say they can’t get convenient appointments to fit around their jobs.

In many surgeries, smear tests are only available at certain times or days, making it difficult for some women to book an appointment.

That’s why #CheersForSmears is calling on GPs to offer more flexible screening times and make testing available outside of office hours and at weekends.

We also want employers to play their part in helping to ensure that their female employees can attend potentially life-saving cervical screenings if they are unable to get an appointment outside of working hours.

Help get your employer involved by emailing info@jostrust.org.uk.

Remember:

  • 5,000 women’s lives are saved a year in the UK by cervical screening
  • 3,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year
  • 99.8% of cervical cancer cases are preventable
  • 870 women die every year in the UK from cervical cancer
  • 1 in 142 UK females will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in their lifetime
  • 25-29 years peak rate of cervical cancer cases

Leighanne, 30, has taken time off work to help take care of Katie.

She told Teesside Live that because the pair have a young nephew and another one on the way, Katie is worried about whether they’ll remember her.

“But most of the time, she’s so positive, she’s been amazing.”

All women and people with a cervix are invited for smear tests every three years from the age of 25 to 64.

A smear test isn’t a test for cervical cancer, but detects changes in the cells of the cervix which can be a precursor to the disease.

Finding abnormal changes early means they can be monitored or treated, so they don’t become cervical cancer.

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Health

6 Scientific Tricks to Help you Sleep

Do you have trouble sleeping? Don’t lie in bed and stress about it. These science-proven tricks will help you get to sleep faster…

Published

4 years ago

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October 4, 2018

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6 Scientific Tricks to Help you Sleep - Sostre News

Do you have trouble sleeping? Don’t lie in bed and stress about it. These science-proven tricks will help you get to sleep faster.

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Health

“The Depravity of The Human Condition”

Driven with out love and purpose we lack the necessities to sustain human life. Through eyes of apathy homelessness is normalized as a chosen way of life…

Published

6 years ago

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May 22, 2017

By

"The Depravity of The Human Condition"

 “The Human Condition”

 

Despondency, starvation and lack cover the face of the earth

Driven with out love and purpose we lack the necessities to sustain human life.

Through eyes of apathy homelessness is normalized as a chosen way of life.

Depravity corrupts moral character diminishing compassion, and mercy.

loss of love is loss of life, people crave acceptance, support, love. interpersonal

relationships are opportunities for growth, maturity, insight and wisdom .

life experiences shape and mold character, without the proper elements to support

human life, we are susceptible to diseases both physically and spiritually.

atrocities darken the mind, and its eternal perception to see the good things

in life. destroying hope and potential, enslaving the mind to incorrect ways of

thinking. influencing the degeneration of moral conduct. impacting relationships,

creating heart ache and pain. destroying the fabric of relationships critical to our

emotional well being, drastically affecting emotional health. broken relationships

cripple our capacity to love. a closed unresponsive heart destroys inner life. making

you a slave to your own pain, causing great distress and spiritual blindness. that binds

the spirit that hinders it from expressing itself freely. erosion of love is malignant cancer

to the human soul. our heart is the core of who we are, our heart controls are thoughts

and actions. the heart most be protected and guarded in order to preserve the inner life

within us  the very essence of our spirit. we must be  careful of what we allow to enter

our hearts, music. television, the types of books we read  will mold us over time . like  water

over rocks the heart is a well spring of life’s issues, acting as a compass leading us along the

path of our destiny. the home of the higher self  created in the image of God

 

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