(Daddy at his Doctoral Commencement at Columbia University in the ’70s.) This Father’s Day I honor all fathers. I especially honor my father who devoted his life to the sciences and to his family. He toiled endlessly until the very last minute working until he couldn’t anymore all to ensure his wife and daughters could get by without him. Not a day goes by that I don’t wonder how much better life would have been if he could have lived to see his girls all grown up. ? His battle with Crohn’s and later colorectal cancer may have taken his life but he has become my inspiration to fight incessantly for my…
- acceptance, awareness, caregivers, colorectal cancer, coping with flares, Crohn's, Father's Day, living with IBD, patient rights, stigma, Ulcerative Colitis
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Coming Out of My IBD Closet as a Desi Woman
Every single year the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation chooses a local Adult Honored Hero who shares his/her story and is honored at the Take Steps Walk in the spring. And every single year I attend the New York City walk, raise awareness and funds to help find treatments and someday a cure for these awful diseases. I bring my friends and my family together along with the Foundation’s Women’s Support Group so they can see that we patients don’t suffer alone, that many folks from all walks of life have been through hell and back at a young age. And every single year, one of my closest girlfriends has tears…
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Owning My Crohn’s Vegas Style
This blog post is a throwback to 5 years ago when I traveled to Vegas to celebrate Prashanthi’s 30th birthday! Happy birthday, Prash! This trip was important to me because it was one of the first times since my diagnosis that I let my guard down disease-wise to travel with good friends. In 2012, after my first RV fistula was found, I had my j-pouch diverted and my 2nd ostomy put in place. After recovery, I decided that my illness had been consuming me whole. It was now do or die–either I restore my sense of self by challenging myself or I languish in misery from not trying. I hit…
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Tina’s Take Steps Honored Hero Speech
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Tina Aswani Omprakash is named an Honored Hero by the Greater NYC Chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Take Steps Honored Heroes represent warriors in the Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis community who share their story to inspire others. OC EDITORS MAY 3, 2018 Tina Aswani Omprakash was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 22-years-old. After many years of suffering from the disease, her colon was removed and she now lives with a permanent ileostomy. Tina shared with us how Inflammatory Bowel Disease has changed her life. “I felt like I was at the top of my game after graduating from college with a career lined up on Wall Street—that’s when the colitis hit. At age 22 – just when my life was about to begin – every day boiled down to “where’s…
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Indian-American Crohn’s Patient and Ostomate Named Honored Hero
Indian-American Crohn’s Patient and Ostomate Named Honored Hero of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation By Brown Girl Magazine May 1, 2018 [All photos courtesy of Tina Aswani Omprakash] I was at the top of my game having just graduated college with a Wall Street career and BAM, just like that, the colitis hit. At the tender age of 22, when my life was just beginning, my existence became a perpetual case of bolting to the nearest bathroom. Between wearing diapers and trying to date while popping pills and using enemas, I began to realize how tenuous life is. It was a scary proposition because my father passed away at…
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Tear Up Your Flare-Up
Whether it feels like a bus just squashed us flat or we have that sudden urge to defecate with no end in sight, we all know that feeling when a flare is imminent. And while it is no fun, it is a part of living and breathing with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). So how do we manage flares? And more importantly, how do we to cope with them to live the fullest life possible? We all know flare-ups are unapologetically anxiety-producing. But staying in those thoughts may cause us to flounder. Overanalyzing and blaming ourselves for a flare, or even for our diseases, is unfair, unreasonable, and counterproductive. IBD has…
- acceptance, advocacy, awareness, Colorectal Surgery, coping with flares, Crohn's, living with IBD, Ostomy, Ulcerative Colitis
TINA ASWANI OMPRAKASH | 2018 NYC ADULT HONORED HERO
I was at the top of my game having just graduated college with a Wall Street career all lined up and BAM, just like that, the colitis hit. At the tender age of 22, when my life was just supposed to be beginning, my life became a perpetual case of where’s the nearest bathroom and having to bolt to avoid accidents. Between wearing diapers and trying to date while popping pills and using enemas, I began to realize how tenuous life is. It was a scary proposition because my dad passed away at 39 years old from a wicked case of Crohn’s that turned into colorectal cancer, and his sister…
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How I Combat Election-Related Anxiety as a Crohn’s Patient and Ostomate
This election has been a cause of distress for many, Crohnies and ostomates included. No matter what your individual views are on each candidate, there is a degree of uncertainty involved with any transition of leadership, let alone a change as drastic as the one we are now facing with our newly elected president. Knowing full well that change can be stressful and anxiety-producing for us as Crohnies and ostomates, how do we face and battle that anxiety? How do we accept outcomes we may not support? And most importantly, how do we combat any fear-mongering attitude that may be directed towards our “bathroom disease” and ostomies? Do we ignore the…