Moeed Majeed

"I was 14 years old when I first became ill, and was officially diagnosed shortly

after my 15th birthday. The process for me was similar to many others, long and painful. It was initially suspected that I was having postviral symptoms, as I had had the flu just as my symptoms began. Finally, after about four months of regular visits to my GP, a hospital stay, blood tests, a colonoscopy, and MRI scans confirmed that I had Crohn’s disease." – Stephen Boyle

"I was diagnosed at 19, in early 2011. It all came about towards the end of 2010, I became very ill. I was constantly running to the bathroom, passing all sorts of fluids and losing a lot of weight. I remember calling my mum and telling her something wasn't right with me. She called the hospital and after a month of tests it was clear what I had. I remember it pretty vividly – I was sitting at the adolescent clinic, and the consultant was drawing lots of little diagrams trying to explain what Crohn's was. It's quite funny thinking back to that moment actually. For me it was a relief that I knew what I had, and in my head it was the first step to getting myself better. Obviously it was a bit more difficult than that and after five years only now am I beginning to feel 'normal'." – Moeed Majeed

"I didn’t suffer long with Crohn's like most people do; I had one massive flare-up

where for four weeks it just got worse and worse. Finally it got to the point just before Christmas this year when I was unable to eat and had the most crippling

diarrhoea for two weeks straight. I lost 20kg in that two weeks and the doctors

finally took my blood and admitted me to hospital. I had surgery as soon as I was admitted to hospital, to drain a fistula that had developed due to the Crohn's. Then followed a week’s worth of MRI, CT scans, x-rays, colonoscopy, and gastroscopy before they finally diagnosed Crohn's disease. The worst part was I was told in the same breath that the Crohn's was that severe the consultant wanted to disconnect my large intestine and give me a stoma [a colostomy bag] right away. So six hours later, that’s what they did…." – Russell Newman