Please read this heartwarming story about a member of the streamline family Chad, and his wife Carinne. They have had a long battle together with Crohn’s disease and we here at Streamline are dedicated to helping them find a cure. After reading their story you can click the link below to visit the site for Carinne’s team and learn how you can donate to help find a cure.

“After 7 years of dating my now husband, Chad I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. After going to many specialists, I finally got it in remission for our BIG day. We were so happy and couldn’t wait for what the future held. We were ready to start a family, but my Crohn’s had a different idea. My GI doctor recommended a temporary ileostomy to cut down the inflammation, so I could have a healthy pregnancy.

I consulted with the surgeon and he recommended removing my colon completely. This major surgery was supposed to give me relief, but it did not go as planned. I had a 90+ day stay in the hospital consisting of multiple surgeries and infections. I went in and out of the hospital for a year with no end in sight. I was losing hope and so incredibly depressed – was this my new norm?

I spent the next year laying in bed until my husband had to go on a business trip. Since I was too sick to stay in Raleigh by myself, I flew to be with my mother in Chicago. While there, I developed a very high fever and found out I was septic. At Northwestern Hospital they immediately did surgery and I was out in 1.5 weeks and finally on my way to recovery. After many months I could go back to work part-time and started getting my life back. I had hope again!

Two years later I was back at Northwestern Hospital. My husband and I did not see each other for 3 weeks since he was back home working full time. While there, I received this text from him, “I cannot express in words how much I love you and how much you mean to me! You are my everything! I HATE that you have to go through this and I’m not there. Please stay strong for us, the boys, and most importantly yourself! I love you! You are the strongest person I know.”

After fighting Crohn’s with my husband by my side for 7 years, I truly know the definition of love. Our love is knowing that he will be by my side no matter how bad things get. That I can call him and just cry without saying a word. The compassion he showed me when I told him recently that this disease took all chances away for us to have our own biological children. Knowing that he still thinks I am the most beautiful person in the world, even with my ileostomy, and that I can feel completely hopeless and depressed and he lifts me up saying I am the strongest women he knows. Though this has been a very viscous storm for us, I truly am so blessed that God has chosen Chad to be my person to weather it with.”

 

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