I’m telling you...my family is CRAZY! 😅 Not “lock us up” crazy, but if there was a hospital just for us, we’d fit right in.
Both my brother and I have Crohn’s disease. Yep, brother and sister with the same chronic illness. Even our doctor was shocked! And guess what? Last year, our mom got diagnosed too. Three people in one family! At this point, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
My brother was only eight when he got diagnosed, but he’d been sick his whole childhood...allergic to almost everything: food, fruit, veggies, even cat and dog hair. I’ll never forget the time we were eating strawberries from our garden and five minutes later, he turned red like a tomato and started scratching like crazy. Goodbye, strawberries forever. 🍓
When he was seven, his belly was swollen, but doctors said it was just a milk allergy. My mom knew something was wrong, but they didn’t listen. A year later, during a visit to our aunt in Ljubljana, he started vomiting non-stop. His colon had ruptured. Emergency surgery saved his life...just minutes away from being fatal. 😢
That’s when the real fight began. He spent years in hospitals, tried every medication, nothing worked. He lost weight, couldn’t eat, couldn’t live like other kids...yet he never complained. The only thing he missed when he was in Hospital? His turtles. 🐢
When I was diagnosed too, I finally understood what he’d been through.The pain, the fear, the endless search for a toilet, and the shame people don’t talk about.
At 20, he moved to Austria to start fresh… and boom, another surgery. They had to remove his large intestine. Imagine waking up and being told you’ll live with a bag attached to your body for life. I cried, but he just laughed: “At least now I won’t have to run to the toilet after eating… but you still will!” 😊 pffff
He’s my hero. Even when he felt ashamed, he kept going. Eventually, he found love...a girl who told him, “Why would you be ashamed of this?” And she meant it.
Then one summer, he took off his shirt at the lake, showed his stoma, and jumped into the water like a boss. No one even looked. Freedom. 💪
Now he’s doing great.Eating, drinking, and finally heavier than me! 😂
And then, just last week, my brother called me. “What are you doing Friday?” he asked. “Nothing,” I said. He told me he finally got the courage to go for a colonoscopy. I was so proud! He didn’t even tell our parents or his girlfriend at first... he didn’t want everyone panicking.
So off we went to Celje. He was nervous, I could tell. They called his name, he went in like a champ. Fifteen minutes later...boom...he walks out like nothing happened. I was like, “Umm… excuse me, how are you even standing? Weren’t you supposed to be sedated?!”
Turns out, they told him he didn’t need it. “You’ll be fine! We’ve already had eight stoma patients this week, and none of them complained!” Yeah, great motivational speech, right? 😂 After five minutes of deep thinking (and probably mild panic), he’s like, “Okay, fine, let’s do it.”
I told him, “Dude, you’re missing half your colon, they’re going through the hole in your stomach...of course it won’t hurt!” Not like me, where they shove that cable up my butt and cheerfully say, “Just relax and think of something nice.” Oh sure, doctor, I’ll just picture a beach in Bali while you’re spelunking in my intestines. Works every time. 😉 😂
Finally, we got the results. The Crohn’s isn’t spreading. He’s in remission. No treatment needed right now.
The first thing he said? “I need a cheeseburger and a beer.” 😂
My brother, a true fighter. ❤️ Now we just need to get our mom stable too. And maybe, just maybe, our family will all be in remission one day.
Hey, miracles happen sometimes. 😉
It’s been a wild journey, but we’re still standing...still laughing, still fighting, and still finding reasons to smile. ❤️
With love, @tinabrezpike ❤️