Bethany Townsend and Crohn's Disease - The Bikini Colostomy Bag Picture

I'm sure you all know about the articles and pictures about: The Bethany Townsend Bikini Picture - Tanning with a Colostomy Bag

It's been everywhere, and the exposure that this has gained makes me very happy in more ways than I can express. 

Bethany, I don't know you, but from the bottom of my heart and with tears in my eyes: Thank You for putting that image out there. I respect you, and wish you the best. 

Crohn's Disease is a very serious condition, mostly caused by diet and stress - although there are other causes (genetics, various "bugs" that you catch that trigger it, etc.), and it impacts the bowels in a way that makes it near impossible to gather nutrients from food that are vital to the body.

My mum's life was ended due to Crohn's 15 years ago. It's so important to me now, because a scary statistic: People who have a first degree relative who have suffered from Crohn's have a 1 in 10 chance of developing it themselves. This is why I eat healthy now, and why I try my best to look after my digestive health. The knowledge of this disease wasn't great over a decade ago, and there were really two options:

1. Get part of your bowel removed and wear a bag for the rest of your life, or 
2. Suffer and pray that you go into remission and that when the flare-ups happen you don't die.

Unfortunately, there was such a big stigma with using a colostomy bag that many people who suffered from this refused to go through with that type of operation. My mum was one of them, and would suffer from regular flare ups, with the last one being her demise. 

The biggest issue was that there wasn't enough attention given to this disease. Not enough research, not enough public knowledge, and not enough hope for people suffering from it. 

Another big issue is that 15 years ago, a doctor was telling my mum to drink "Ensure", a meal replacement, during the times where her flare ups made it impossible for her to eat without spending hours in the washroom. Over these times, she lost so much weight that she was unrecognizable to everyone who knew her. Ensure contains dairy and chemicals, that's all. And each time she drank this "doctor recommended" meal replacement, she got worse. He told her to eat yogurt, which also caused more problems. But he insisted that it would help "protect" her stomach and intestines. Also - he would prescribe a new anti-biotic seemingly monthly, and would encourage her to NOT quit smoking as the stress on her body from nicotine withdrawals could trigger stress-related flare ups of the disease. He wouldn't look after her digestive health or suggest a pro-biotic to counteract the anti-biotic, and he wouldn't suggest a dietician for her to see so that she could get a handle on the disease. When I look back now, it seems as though the only thing he was interested in was pumping her full of pills. (I can't even remember the several different medications and pain-killers she was taking.)
Now, at least they know that dairy causes mucous to build up in the intestines and stomach, and is BAD for people who suffer from Crohn's Disease. It creates inflammation, and blocks even the slight amounts of nutrients that the bowel can still absorb from being absorbed.

My wish is that research of this disease continues so that the thousands of people who suffer from it don't go through the same fate as my mum. I'm not a fan of posting bikini pictures to get attention for a cause, but if this helps inspire others who suffer from the disease, and gains exposure for the disease so people take it more seriously and become more educated about it, then I am happy.