Bobbie’s Story

My journey with IBD started at 20 years of age. I was originally Diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and was in the middle of my Dance Teachers Course at University when my symptoms began. I started with bleeding, mucus, pain and frequent toilet trips, I attributed these to stress and at the time, had no idea what IBD was and thought I either had IBS or Cancer, as I wasn’t aware of anything else bleeding could be. It was scary and I had no idea what I had just been diagnosed with.
Over the 13 years since my diagnosis I have tried many drugs, only achieving a small pocket of time in remission, these included, Steroids, FMT, Immunosuppressants and Biologics. I have been part of some really awesome drug trials which didn’t necessarily assist my IBD going into remission but certainly helped with monitoring my IBD and raising some awareness around how drugs and Biologics work in everyday life and in pregnancy.

I have been incredibly lucky to have 2 children on this wild ride that IBD life is and hope to have more in the near future. My IBD hasn’t been in remission during these times, but it has been stable. Often calming during pregnancy and flaring post birth.

In 2022 I started with a large boil on my labia, the doctors suspected a Bartholin cyst to begin with, however, it turned out to be a fistula, which led to 3 rather complicated fistulas.
In 2024 I had 18 surgeries in 12 months, 1 surgery was a temporary loop ileostomy and another other a total proctocolectomy, did somebody say Barbie butt?

I am now 5 months post Barbie Butt surgery and whilst I still have a long way to go with healing mentally and physically, I am definitely on the right path. I am trying to embrace all life has to offer and look forward to connecting to some like-minded souls through this amazing platform.
So that’s my journey.. in a VERY small nutshell (I could talk about IBD for years!), Thank you for listening!

Feel free to reach out if you want to connect, I am here to chat about anything and everything. I am an open book and love to share experiences and hopefully help someone along the way.