Introducing myself

Hello all I am Hannahs mum. Hannah has crohns and like lots on here has suffered badly. Hannah was diagnosed nearly 4 years ago when she was 18. Something had been brewing for several months she had a violent upset stomach which lasted for 3 weeks and then seemed to clear up. Looking back there were lots of clues something was very wrong but hindsight is a wonderful thing. She would faint frequently and often had to rush to the loo. Also she started to get severe pain in her bottom on a long coach trip this pain eased as a large hole appeared on her buttock and a vile discharge came from it.

I had to drag Hannah to the doctors as she was terrified the doctor took one look and said its an ingrowing hair. He assured us he could do a simple op himself 1 month later and all would be fine. Hannah had just started her first job and struggled into work every day in great pain by now she had blood ever time she went to the loo. On the day of the "minor" op the doctor came running out and told us to go straight to the hospital as he didn think it was an ingrowing hair any longer. At the hospital we met the most wonderful kind surgeon anyone could ever meet she gave Hannah a great big cuddle and reassured her things would get better.

Anyway its been a long journey with lots of nasty twists and turns Hannah needed an emergency stoma 2 years ago but she still is troubled by nasty fistulas and has finally had enough and is going to have anus and rectum removed in October.

All through this she has been so positive and has met a wonderful young man who has accepted all the problems Hannah has got, and just last month Hannah won an award from the Football league and had a programme about her on the BBC because no matter what life throws at her she still manages to get to her beloved football club to watch the matches whenever she is physically able.

Hannah was on remicade 2 years ago but had a massive failure which resulted in the stoma. She is on Humira now which she is unable to face injecting herself and her wonderful boyfriend does for her. This has given her so much more energy.
Hope I havent gone on too long about my beautiful girl but I am so proud of her.

Hannahsmum said:

Hope I havent gone on too long about my beautiful girl but I am so proud of her.

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Hi hannahsmum,

You've got a daughter who is a great example of how to try to lead a normal life despite the nasty CD.I skyplus the football league show as i work nights. I sat & watched it today & listened to Hannahs story with great interest.
You & your husband have a young lady to be very proud of.Wonderful to read that Hannah has a b/f who helps her so much & stands by her.
From what you have posted it sounds that hannahs CD is quite aggressive.
Sorry to hear that hannah faces such major surjery in October - but if it improves her quality of life it will be worth it.
Couldn't the hospital schedule it for the close season? That would make Hannah happy!!
Only a fellow football fan would understand these comments!!
My CD kicked off when i was 19 (anal abscess) i then went on to have 9 operations as Steroids,Azathioprine,6mp,Pentasa all failed to help me.
I was never put on Humiria,Infliximab etc.
Despite all the aggro & pain i went through i have missed only 14 West Ham games home & away since i was 13.My two most major operations were both in the summer time (july '98 & june 08).Not my choice,just how it fell.
During all the years i suffered i tried as hard as i could to lead a normal life.
I went to many games when i felt awful but i had a stubborn determination to carry on - just like Hannah.
The 1st game i went to following right side hemi it took me nearly 1 hour to walk from Upton Park tube to the ground (10 min walk) but i was determined CD would not stop me going to my lifelong hobby.
I have a lot of respect for Hannahs determination.
I'm a lucky fella now as just under 2 years ago i decided to try Serovera AMP to control the CD.I have had success that was only ever a dream for many years.

I hope you find the support of this forum to be helpful.Please keep us updated on Hannahs progress & i hope she gets to as many Southend games as possible.

Best Wishes

Hi Hannah's Mum and welcome!

Hannah sounds like an amazing young woman. You must be so proud! It is great she has such a wonderful support system with her family and boyfriend. I think a good support system is one of the best things for Crohn's!

Glad the Humira is working to keep her in remission and making her feel better. Good luck when she goes for the final surgery to take care of rectum and anus. I just had a perm ileo placed and the anus stitch up was a real bugger!

Tell her to keep on being an inspiration to us all!

- Amy

Hi hannahsmum and :welcome:

Wow, wow, wow, what an incredibly resilient and amazing young lady your daughter is! :medal1::medal1::medal1: I have no trouble seeing why you are so proud of her, heck, I'm proud of her too!......:ybiggrin:

You will find many kindred spirits here and I hope you stick around 'cause we would love to have you. We have a parent's forum you may like to have a browse through......

http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

It's fab to know she has a loving and supportive family around her and her boyfriend must be just lovely, what a difference all that makes.

She must be very passionate about her football! Good for her. Okay, my ignorance showing here, what team does she follow? I can't guess by looking at your location, then again maybe she doesn't follow the local team and I will be redeemed. :lol:. My daughter isn't remotely interested but my son eats, breathes and everything else football.

Good to hear about the Humira, may it keep on keeping on, she deserves nothing less. Keeping my finger and toes crossed! Good luck and welcome aboard Mum!

Take care, :hug:
Dusty. xxx

Thanks for that folks I have browsed this forum in some very dark moments but always thought other people would not be interested in our story. I realise that was wrong. E13boy Hannah has asked for the surgery to be October she will finalise the date after the fixture list is out. The reason is Hannah is a great Essex cricket fan as well and wants to get to as many 20/20 matches as possible she has already bought tickets for the final in Birmingham(theres confidence) also she has 2 holidays planned 1 to Sardinia in May and 1 to Turkey in September also her brothers wedding in the summer. She has just gone back to work full time as being a shopaholic as well as loving her holidays she has hit the plastic a bit too much so wants to get a few months pay to try and reduce it slightly. (We dont really help as whenever she says she is going to book another holiday or buy another pair of shoes we tend to say go for it)
DustyKat Hannahs football team is Southend United a little team in the lower leagues which she follows with a passion. E13boy Hannahs boyfriend is a West Ham fan and she will often be found at the Boleyn Ground when Southend dont have a fixture

Forgot to add that Hannahs boyfriend ran the London marathon last Sunday in blistering heat to raise money for Crohns and Colitis. He truly is a remarkable young man and it brought tears to my eyes when he crossed the finishing line.

Wow, they are a supercouple! Nice to see such inspiration in young people!

Welcome Mum!! Glad you've joined us!! Maybe Hannah could join too!! She sounds a lot like ^^^Amy^^^ up there!! Determined to enjoy life come hell or high water!!! I know there are many levels of pain and pain tolerance but I love the stories of sufferers who get on with living in spite of it all!! Good luck to her and you too Mum!!

PS.... um got a name Mum?

Hi Hannahsmum,
Hannah does sound like a stong young lady and she has cetainly been through alot!
Was her stoma reversed or does she still have it?

That is so nice that she found a great boyfriend, who helps her so much. I'm also a runner so I love the part about the london marathon.

Welcome to the forum!