Seven Marathons, Seven Days!

Laura Firth runs the marathon of chronic illness while living life to the fullest.

Sometimes I sit and reflect on my life and ask myself, do I remember a time before I felt no pain, had to take daily medication and endure endless hospital appointments, which continually resulted in surgeries and always searching for the nearest toilet? No, I do not. So, here is my story: how it all began and how I manage to get through each day.

I have lost count of all my surgeries and continually saying to myself, “This must be the last one!” I am pretty sure that every time you get put under anaesthetic it kills brain cells. This is not a fact, but would explain a lot.

First diagnosis

I first got symptoms when I was serving in Iraq. I was tired all the time, losing blood and always on the toilet. I was in denial of being ill, so much so that after months passed and I was out exercising, all I remember was waking up in hospital. This was the start of my journey. After what seemed like endless testing, I was finally diagnosed with UC. From there, I was prescribed steroids and sent on my way. This treatment was unsuccessful, so the specialist prescribed me more and more drugs, then injections, and still nothing. The continual change in medication went on for a few years.

It started to affect my career, as no one knew what to do with me. In 2006, I met my future husband, who soon became my rock. He was by my side through all the operations and appointments, stopping the car every 10 minutes to find a toilet! He really is my everything, but do not let him know that!

Things started to get even worse when I was pregnant with my daughter in 2007. I was constantly bleeding and going to the toilet 30+ times a day; I had to make a bed up in the toilet. The fight was on, but needless to say, it was only the beginning.

Battling adversity

Just before my daughter’s first birthday, I was rushed to hospital and what was more worrying was there were no more drugs to try. My large intestine was incredibly ulcerated and had to be removed! I remember the nurse talking about a bag. My thought was “No way! Isn’t a bag for old people?” I was only 26 and not ready for this. My hubby was serving in Afghanistan at the time, and I could not go for surgery without talking to him. So within 24 hours he was by my side telling me it would be ok. The surgery was very long, and I just remember all the drains and tubes and then the bag! With so much pain, I was connected to a morphine drip, but found out I was allergic to this. Throughout this entire process, I knew I had to stay strong and fight for my family. There were some incredibly low, dark days, but my hubby always made sure I was laughing. The best kind of medicine. A year later, I was due to go into hospital to get a J-Pouch, but I was pregnant with my second baby. So, we put the operation off; the pregnancy went better than the first one, which was good.

Then it was all gone, woohoo I was so elated that the J-Pouch was coming, no more bag oooohhh yes! It was magical for a small while, but then came the fistulas, the pain, the days of being unable to get up. I lost so much weight (25kg) and had to be continually readmitted back into hospital, not a life for a mum with two small kids and a fly-in-fly-out husband. I remember one operation, where I had lost so much weight; I was so weak and I woke up with no pipes or tubes, so I tried to go to the toilet and just collapsed.

My husband had to hold me up and shower me. This was not a life, and I was in incredible pain. We then decided to have a temporary bag again and rest the J-Pouch, but I still could not get my head around a bag for the rest of my life. So, one last try with the J-Pouch, my body just said no! I had more fistulas and more camera tests, resulting in a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease as well as UC. It came to the point I could no longer walk 100m without stopping, as the pain was too much. No drugs were working, and the pain was totally unbearable. Enough was enough!

Back on track

In 2017, I gave into the disease, it had won! I had to be able to be a mother to my kids as they were growing so fast. I tried doing everything for them and reflecting back, it’s amazing how much you can hide when in pain. So, the bag was back, I had a mind shift and was determined to make this work; it was time to get our lives back, time to get my life back and time to make a difference. Time to step up! With the children, I started to run, we had a reason to run and together we ran 12km to raise awareness for Crohn’s and colitis. Spreading the word and running was something I felt I could do.

In 2019, I decided it was time to run my first marathon. I found Braveheart’s, a charity that helps sexually abused kids, so I signed up. Race day was awesome, and I completed 42.2km. After finishing, it took my body about 10 minutes for the insides to settle, just trying not to throw up. It was nasty, but it was the beginning of something else. I met some incredible runners, who I wanted to join again in 2020.

After this, I did a 24-hour race, never say you can’t! Never let a disease define you. I covered 160km and still wanted to run more. So, in 2020, I signed up for seven marathons in seven days in seven states for Braveheart’s, however COVID-19 hit and I had to go virtual, so I ended up doing four marathons and three halves, as I had to play mum also, while hubby was away with work. The body was good, and I was changing a bag daily. I had accepted the bag as life now. I was still having leaks and sometimes skin got so sore, but nothing compares to the early days.

Final Thoughts

My advice is this: if you are in a similar position, get a bag now! Putting it off is putting off your quality of life. I am now living and doing things I want to do. Don’t get me wrong, I still get paranoid that you can see it under my clothes, but now I open up to people, as so many people don’t know about Crohn’s, colitis or ileostomy. My family are incredible and have stood by my side through it all.

However, my story isn’t finished as I will have the J-Pouch removed this month. I understand that there isn’t yet a cure for Crohn’s and colitis, but we can continue to spread the word: you can do the things you love and there is a light through all the darkness. So please, stay strong because you can!