FAMILY AND LOVED ONES
LIVING WITH UC, WITHOUT IT; WATCHING A LOVED ONE BATTLE UC
By Daniel Balyint @BALYINT
The most important part of being diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease is feeling the love and
support of family and friends. Without that support system, most of us wouldn’t be here to tell our
inspirational stories. Here, a boyfriend tells of his journey, watching two of the most important people
in his life being affected by IBD and how it changed his view on life, love and health.
I have lived with ulcerative colitis in my life
since October 2012. Not once have I had a
painful bowel movement, passed bloody stool,
or struggle with insurmountable pain to the
point that I became sick in this time. I have
had to speed through traffic, counting down
the miles to the next exit with a bathroom
on the highway, anticipating sure disaster at
any moment. I have been very accustomed to
where the bathrooms are in the local grocery
store, Wal-Mart, mall and restaurants all
over town. I have become aware of packing
toiletries and regularly buying toilet paper
and moist wipes to help in any way. I have
ulcerative colitis by extension. My girlfriend
has battled through this awful disease for
what feels like years, I can only imagine how
she feels.
Let me start off by saying that my own father
almost lost his life to ulcerative colitis before
I was born. He would have lost the battle if it
weren’t for an emergency surgery to remove his colon and leave him with an ostomy for
life. Strangely, however, I have never really known much about this terrible disease until I
watched my girlfriend battle it with my own two eyes.
To be honest, I didn’t even know what my dad suffered through, at all, until recently.
I’ve found that UC is a strange beast. It will cause some people to go silent and just live
with the cards they have been dealt, like my father. I have never really heard him talk
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