Emma's GI Reversal Surgery with Dr. Stryker
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Hello Everyone. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at the age of 22.
Ulcerative Colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that has both genetic and environmental components to its etiology. Ulcerative Colitis causes sore-like ulcers to develop in the innermost lining of the colon and rectum. These ulcerations caused intense abdominal pain/cramping, diarrhea, and blood in the stool, with every meal I ate, even with just sips of water, for 5 years.
My condition started out somewhat mild and slowly progressed to a very aggressive and serious form of Ulcerative Colitis requiring multiple blood transfusions, rounds of prednisone (steroids), biologic medications, and inpatient hospital stays.
By my 24th birthday, treatment of my severe condition was failing. Almost every kind of medication and therapy to achieve remission and improve my quality of life were exhausted, as I had failed two biologic medications, Remicade and Entyvio. When treatment was no longer an option, I was recommended by physicians to undergo a total colectomy (the removal of the entire colon and the addition of an external stool collection bag called an ostomy/ostomy bag), with reversal of the ostomy to follow in subsequent surgeries. When I say “reverse the ostomy”, I am referring to a surgery that allows for life without an external stool bag and going to the bathroom normally as everyone else does. (Yes! You can live life without a colon and without a bag! It's crazy what they can do these days!) Wanting my quality of life back, and desperate for pain relief, I underwent the surgery in January of 2018 at the age of 26. The colectomy was successful and my quality of life greatly improved, and I eventually underwent two more surgeries and had my ostomy reversed.
Sadly, in January 2020, I experienced an uncommon, post-surgical complication called necrotic bowel, where part of my small intestine died requiring emergency, life-saving surgery. With the necrotic bowel, I was forced to have a bag again until my intestines had healed enough for reversal. The ostomy was successfully reversed this past December 2020 but unfortunately and unbelievably, the reversal failed 15 days after it occurred, requiring me to have another emergency surgery which led to my current state of living life with an ostomy, AGAIN (I spent about a month, including Christmas 2020 and New Years 2021 in the hospital). I had a very large abdominal wound. They were unable to stitch me closed due to infection risk and the wound had to heal from the inside out.
Having all of these complications and working with three different Northwestern GI surgeons, I was obviously beginning to give up hope at potentially leading a somewhat normal post-Ulcerative Colitis, ostomy-bag-less life. However, I am giving it one last shot and am going under the knife with a new surgeon, Dr. Steven J. Stryker, who is a surgical legend in the Chicagoland area. Dr. Stryker teaches at Mayo Clinic and appears to be my last hope at permanently reversing this ostomy and living life without an ostomy bag. He is very confident he can reverse this ostomy successfully and give me my life back without an ostomy. Unfortunately Dr. Stryker does not accept insurance and his fee for this surgery is $6,000.
I recently completed my full-time accelerated nursing program and will soon be an RN, but until I pass my boards and start my job as a RN in August, I am only part-time status as a pediatric nurse aid and unable to fully fund this surgery myself.
Good things lie ahead with the start of my new career in nursing and putting all of this Ulcerative Colitis related surgery behind me. I thank each and everyone of you for your help with this and am so blessed for you all!!! Please pray this surgery works, and that I can live life without an ostomy bag for the rest of my life.
Side note: A plastics team is fixing my scar and creating a belly button at the time of my next surgery with Dr. Stryker in June! I am not asking for any help financing this surgery as it is covered by insurance, but I'm just so excited to have this scar revised and a NEW belly button! My belly button got lost somewhere along this journey and I am just so beyond happy to have her back.
Ulcerative Colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that has both genetic and environmental components to its etiology. Ulcerative Colitis causes sore-like ulcers to develop in the innermost lining of the colon and rectum. These ulcerations caused intense abdominal pain/cramping, diarrhea, and blood in the stool, with every meal I ate, even with just sips of water, for 5 years.
My condition started out somewhat mild and slowly progressed to a very aggressive and serious form of Ulcerative Colitis requiring multiple blood transfusions, rounds of prednisone (steroids), biologic medications, and inpatient hospital stays.
By my 24th birthday, treatment of my severe condition was failing. Almost every kind of medication and therapy to achieve remission and improve my quality of life were exhausted, as I had failed two biologic medications, Remicade and Entyvio. When treatment was no longer an option, I was recommended by physicians to undergo a total colectomy (the removal of the entire colon and the addition of an external stool collection bag called an ostomy/ostomy bag), with reversal of the ostomy to follow in subsequent surgeries. When I say “reverse the ostomy”, I am referring to a surgery that allows for life without an external stool bag and going to the bathroom normally as everyone else does. (Yes! You can live life without a colon and without a bag! It's crazy what they can do these days!) Wanting my quality of life back, and desperate for pain relief, I underwent the surgery in January of 2018 at the age of 26. The colectomy was successful and my quality of life greatly improved, and I eventually underwent two more surgeries and had my ostomy reversed.
Sadly, in January 2020, I experienced an uncommon, post-surgical complication called necrotic bowel, where part of my small intestine died requiring emergency, life-saving surgery. With the necrotic bowel, I was forced to have a bag again until my intestines had healed enough for reversal. The ostomy was successfully reversed this past December 2020 but unfortunately and unbelievably, the reversal failed 15 days after it occurred, requiring me to have another emergency surgery which led to my current state of living life with an ostomy, AGAIN (I spent about a month, including Christmas 2020 and New Years 2021 in the hospital). I had a very large abdominal wound. They were unable to stitch me closed due to infection risk and the wound had to heal from the inside out.
Having all of these complications and working with three different Northwestern GI surgeons, I was obviously beginning to give up hope at potentially leading a somewhat normal post-Ulcerative Colitis, ostomy-bag-less life. However, I am giving it one last shot and am going under the knife with a new surgeon, Dr. Steven J. Stryker, who is a surgical legend in the Chicagoland area. Dr. Stryker teaches at Mayo Clinic and appears to be my last hope at permanently reversing this ostomy and living life without an ostomy bag. He is very confident he can reverse this ostomy successfully and give me my life back without an ostomy. Unfortunately Dr. Stryker does not accept insurance and his fee for this surgery is $6,000.
I recently completed my full-time accelerated nursing program and will soon be an RN, but until I pass my boards and start my job as a RN in August, I am only part-time status as a pediatric nurse aid and unable to fully fund this surgery myself.
Good things lie ahead with the start of my new career in nursing and putting all of this Ulcerative Colitis related surgery behind me. I thank each and everyone of you for your help with this and am so blessed for you all!!! Please pray this surgery works, and that I can live life without an ostomy bag for the rest of my life.
Side note: A plastics team is fixing my scar and creating a belly button at the time of my next surgery with Dr. Stryker in June! I am not asking for any help financing this surgery as it is covered by insurance, but I'm just so excited to have this scar revised and a NEW belly button! My belly button got lost somewhere along this journey and I am just so beyond happy to have her back.
Organizer
Emma Ward
Organizer
Chicago, IL