大象传媒 Scotland - 大象传媒 Scotland - Living with Crohn鈥檚 disease: surely no laughing matter ...or is it?

Living with Crohn鈥檚 disease: surely no laughing matter ...or is it?

17 August 2018

32-year-old Graeme was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in his early twenties.

He has battled the inflammatory bowel condition and the side-effects of its treatment ever since. His biggest ally along the way? Humour.

Finding New Ways To Cope With Crohn's Disease

Graeme has Crohn's disease and humour is his biggest ally when it comes to coping with it.

There was a specific moment that allowed Graeme to realise how much control he had over Crohn’s.

If you鈥檙e able to laugh at it you鈥檒l always be a step ahead and you鈥檒l never let it defeat you.

“I had to go to the toilet. I was so weak that I had to crawl to get to the toilet. I didn’t make it and it was everywhere: up the wall, all over my dressing gown, all over the floor. I just looked at myself and burst into laughter.”

There were, however, dark periods too. Graeme admits that the idea of having a stoma – an opening in the abdomen that allows human waste to be collected in a colostomy bag – once led to a suicidal thought. The moment passed, however, once the stoma was fitted.

“It was life-changing! I’m proud of having my colostomy bag. Within days of having it fitted I felt amazing — the best I’d felt since I was 18.”