Living with Crohn’s during the pandemic

Ryan Owen pictured in hospital Covid:19 message:: ‘Stay Safe’ ©Unsplash

Living with Crohn’s in a pandemic:

“It felt quite lonely at times”

By AIDAN CRISP

Living with Crohn’s disease is difficult at the most normal of times. However, living with the incurable disease in a pandemic has proved to be extremely hard.

Crohn’s disease is a lifelong condition where part of the digestive system becomes inflamed. In some severe cases, sufferers will end up with a stoma bag on the wall of the abdomen that diverts the contents of the bowel out the body.

People who have Crohn’s are more at risk of being seriously unwell if they catch the coronavirus, and many of their lives have been negatively impacted by the extra stresses of the pandemic.

Crohn’s affects about one in every 650 people in the UK, and many people in Liverpool struggle with it.

One of these people is Abigail Walker, who has been diagnosed since 2017. She said: “Living with it in the pandemic has been hard, because all your appointments get pushed back and you’re constantly worrying about going to appointments, because you hear so many stories about people catching COVID in hospitals.

“It worries me going into a social situation, because I’m more at risk of being ill. Lots of people haven’t been following social distancing rules, so I’m nervous to be around people in case I catch it.”

Miss Walker also had to isolate for three months because of medication she was taking, which resulted in her being furloughed from her supermarket job.

She said: “It was really hard, because I saw friends going for walks and most people going to work and living normally, but I couldn’t do that.

“It felt quite lonely at times and my anxiety was really bad when I did eventually return back to normal life, as I hadn’t been around anyone for ages.”

Another sufferer of Crohn’s disease whose found living with it in the pandemic hard is Ryan Owen.

The 25-year-old bank assistant from Liverpool suffers from quite severe Crohn’s, that has seen him hospitalised in the past. He said: “I’ve been in and out of hospital a few times now, so I’m not scared of them, but I’ve been worried about catching coronavirus in hospital, because that’s how one of my friends got it.

“I don’t think there is enough support out there for people with Crohn’s, especially not at the moment when a lot of us are worried.”

If anyone suffering with Crohn’s disease feels alone in the pandemic, ‘CROHN’S & COLITIS UK’ are running a virtual social event for people from Merseyside. The event will take place on April 20 and will run for 90 minutes.

More information can be found at crohnsandcolitis.org.uk.