I conquered college while suffering from a chronic illness

January 2016 marked a five year milestone for me, of being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). For those of you who don’t know, UC is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease that causes sores on the lining of the large intestine. These sores can become extremely painful, especially during a flare up. Doctors aren’t sure what causes this disease, but in the US alone, there are 200,000 new cases a year.

After some family digging, my family and I are convinced it is genetic. We believe it comes from my dad’s mother’s side of the family. Grandma Gianantonio is from Italy, and in recent years, more and more members of that side of the family have been diagnosed with UC. With that being said, at this point in time, there is no cure for this disease, and that’s OK with me.

Before the age of 17, I was an active athlete. Most weekends were spent at practices, or traveling to various places on the weekend. I thought my life was perfect, until my body started to change. It was absolutely terrifying. Before I was actually diagnosed, I suffered from a terrible flare. Symptoms included frequent bathroom use (even in the middle of the night), terrible pain in my sides, loss of appetite, weight loss, and blood in the stool.

Clearly, this isn’t anything a 17 year old should be dealing with. In early December of 2010, I was scheduled to see Dr. Alka Goyal, a Gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. When I met her, I was intimidated, but managed to explain all of my symptoms to her. She looked at me with her big brown eyes and said, “It sounds like you have either Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s. You need to get a colonoscopy, so I can determine which one it is.” I was stunned. I remember telling myself, “I’m only 17! This is not happening to me.”

The New Year came and went, and soon enough it was the day of my procedure. I still couldn’t believe this was happening to me. After the IV was put in, I was sedated, and the rest was history. Once the sedation began to slowly wear off and I awoke, I began to make out my mother’s figure. I said to her, “Mommy, what is wrong with me?” My eyes now focused on her more clearly. I could tell she was crying, and in a soft voice she said, “Honey, you have Ulcerative Colitis, and you need to spend some time in the hospital.” I spent 10 life changing days in Children’s Hospital.

The coolest cats in town, who also happen to be my parents! I’m so grateful for them and my sister.

2011 was an extremely dark year for me, mentally and emotionally. I was disgusted with myself. I hated looking in the mirror because the girl staring back was ugly. All I wanted to do was rip my out insides and give them to someone else. Every day I wondered why I got the incurable disease. I often cursed God for allowing children to get this kind of disease. I truly hit rock bottom. Needless to say, with the support of my family and friends, I got through the rough patch, and persevered onto bigger and better things.

After graduating high school in June 2012, I embarked on a new adventure: college. I was extremely worried because with college comes alcohol to celebrate the long exhausting weekends, or to drown sorrow’s away. At that the time, I was taking a medication that strongly discouraged alcohol consumption because it could cause serious liver damage. I chose my liver over alcohol, and believe it or not I think some of my so called “friends” judged me for it. I’ve never needed alcohol to have fun because I’m the goober who does weird dance moves in public with no care in the world.

Celebrating good times at Pitt games with Alyssa, who is one of my closest friends from freshman yea

For those of you who have walked past me on campus or seen me in the cafeteria, would you even know I suffer from something like this? Probably not, because I personally think my spunky personality hides it will. And I have bigger problems to focus my attention on.

Here I am today, 22 years old and about to graduate college at the end of April. I have come a long way since the age of 17. As the years go on, I often reflect and continue to watch myself transform into a fierce independent woman with no limits, but most importantly, I refuse to let my incurable disease control me. This is my life to live, not Ulcerative Colitis’s. In a weird way, UC has taught me a lot of life lessons, such as learning  to live one day at a time, remaining calm in times of stress, and most importantly, loving myself: flaws and all.

This is my life story, and it made me who I am today. I conquered college with a chronic illness, and it feels damn good.

Visit ccfa.org for more information on Colitis and Crohn’s.