Trinity was six years old when she got a terrible persistent pain in
her stomach
at first doctors told her to keep an eye on it maybe it was the flu or ecoli
kids got those illnesses all the time but after trinity started having
diarrhea and bloody stools every day sometimes
- 16 times a day it became apparent that this was no ordinary illness she wasn't
absorbing her food
her face was sinking she had dark circles under her eyes and the
excruciating pain wouldn't go away
she was referred to dr. Jason sewed a t children's hospital Colorado he found
severe swelling in her intestines
ultimately diagnosed her with crohn's disease the way I explained crohn's
disease children as their immune system is over stimulated and it seems to be
attacking their own intestines which can cause them to have the pain that they
have the diarrhea they have difficulty growing
over the last five years Trinity has undergone several tests and treatments
she has tried steroids in jections infusions
most of them helped the crohn's disease but the side effects were too severe for
eternity to continue using them
I think the hardest thing is not being able to help you know she's in so much
pain all the time
we can't fix her we can't take away her pain at age 11
she tried nutritional feeding with little success and she underwent
exploratory surgery that was inconclusive
every time
a glimmer of hope one day led to unbearable pain the next few patients
with Crohn's disease have it this bad
many people have it under control and some have even got into remission but at
some point it is likely that the 1.6 million Americans suffering from
inflammatory bowel disease have experienced discomfort and debilitating
pain
for those who suffer simple joys like pizza parties sleepovers and family
trips become a stressful event for the least defending food and the nearest
bathroom
it can feel like an endless loop of hope and disappointment for it seems like
things never really change depression covers
researchers have spent years investigating the cause of crohn's
disease 80 years after it was first described the answers to this illness
remain elusive
there is still no cure but where there is courage
there's hope Trinity has an inner strength that not every kid has she sees
a wall in front of her but she's willing to climb that wall and go through it and
get over it so that you'll get better
some people look at me like I'm in a lot of pain but they look at me and say you
look perfectly fine it's because I've lived with pain for a really long time
now and I know how to hide it
I want to be strong for other people and show them that I can I can do this but i
want to be a normal child again
we're getting closer I see that there is going to be into this i can see that the
medicines that were coming up with more and more potent much better and with
less side effects and at some point I think we're going to be seeing a
possibility of a cure and I just want to get this cure I want some way to figure
out how how do we get this
how can we get rid of it those are questions I've been asked doctors and
they they say we don't know right now but we're gonna figure it out