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Empowering the Chronically Ill & Disabled to Lead Fuller Lives

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  • Caregiving,  Coronavirus,  COVID-19,  Crohn's,  immunocompromised,  Mental Health

    Gaurav’s Covid-19 Journey as a Crohn’s Patient in India

    June 11, 2021

    Greetings! I’m Gaurav Sengupta, a 32-year-old IBD patient advocate from India. I currently live in Kolkata and run a plastic manufacturing business of my own. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease back in 2015 when I was working as a Corporate Banker in the UAE. I nearly ended up in surgery back then and once again in 2019 due to stricture formation and bowel obstructions. I have been fortunate that my GI has helped to successfully control my disease during both of those flares with the help of oral steroids and immunosuppressants.  I recently fell prey to the global pandemic of Covid-19 during its second wave in India. Here, I…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    December 9, 2019

    Taryn’s Journey: Navigating Relationships and IBD During the Pandemic

    April 1, 2021
  • awareness,  Crohn's,  Fistulizing Disease,  Healthcare Disparities,  Minority Health,  Ostomy,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Being South Asian American & Living with IBD

    February 9, 2021

    Originally published on February 2nd, 2021 on the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s IBDVisible Blog: https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/blog/being-south-asian-american-living-with-ibd By: Tina Aswani Omprakash I was 22 years old when I was first diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). I felt very isolated as a young South Asian American woman, unable to relate to those around me who were healthy and able-bodied. Even though this disease runs in my family, there was very little knowledge about Crohn’s disease or willingness to discuss my journey. Not only was my diagnosis delayed from my teenage years, due to a lack of understanding of extraintestinal manifestations (in my case, joint pains, ocular inflammation, dermatological issues), but once I did get a diagnosis, many healthcare…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    The Value of Support Groups

    August 26, 2018

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    August 13, 2018

    Being Brown and Coming Out of the IBD Closet: The Chronic Illness Experience

    August 7, 2018
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  diversity,  living with IBD,  Mental Health,  Minority Health,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    ~OYC Trailblazers~ Anisha Zumba-ing Her Way into 2021!

    January 28, 2021

    This blog post has been done in collaboration with Girls With Guts Community Connection. By Anisha Gangotra My name is Anisha, I’m 37 years old and I live in Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom. I’ve lived with ulcerative colitis since 2008, from the age of 24. I experienced my first colitis symptoms following a two-week holiday abroad. My stomach hadn’t felt quite right but I’d also had my period when I was on holiday so I assumed that it was a mixture of jet lag, my body adjusting to a different environment and my menstrual cycle. I’ve always had a sensitive stomach so I didn’t think much of it. When…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    OYC Trailblazers: Celebrating Melissa’s J-Pouch-versary

    February 25, 2019

    The Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019

    Edgar Flores opens up about surviving near-death and the challenges of living with an ostomy in Mexico

    November 4, 2018
  • Ableism,  acceptance,  advocacy,  Crohn's,  Dating & Relationships,  Disability Justice,  Minority Health,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    I am NOT a Burden: A South Asian Perspective

    July 1, 2020

    The recent advice column in the NY Times called “Is it OK to Dump Him Because of His Medical Condition?” has been percolating in our minds for the last few weeks. Tomorrow, July 2nd, 2020, marks 10 years since I’ve been married to the love of my life, Anand. Yes, you read that right: one whole decade of wedded bliss and 14 years of us being together. (See Love Knows No Disability.) I still vividly remember telling him 3 weeks into us dating that I had been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) a few short months earlier and that the disease had taken the lives of my father and…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Love Knows No Disability

    July 2, 2019

    What Will People Think? ~A Short Documentary by Chealynn Feaster

    December 27, 2019

    My Feature in Suffering the Silence’s Photo Series Campaign

    October 6, 2019
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  Mental Health,  Minority Health,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    As a Chronically-Ill Brown Woman, Here’s Why I Share My Survival Story

    May 16, 2019

    I had the honor of attending the 2019 HealtheVoices conference in Dallas, TX, as a patient advocate who was selected to attend from a group of 400+ applicants. Here are my impressions of the conference theme for this year, “A Little Heart Can Do Big Things” from the perspective of a chronically-ill brown patient advocate: https://www.oshihealth.com/my-survival-story/. Originally published by Oshi Health, Inc., on April 29th, 2019. Written by Tina Aswani Omprakash Please feel free to leave comments and feedback. I would love to hear your thoughts as always.

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    March 26, 2019

    My Pelvic Pain Story

    October 26, 2018

    My Feature in Suffering the Silence’s Photo Series Campaign

    October 6, 2019
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  patient rights,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Being Brown and Coming Out of the IBD Closet: The Chronic Illness Experience

    August 7, 2018

    ***Originally published in Brown Girl Magazine on August 2nd, 2018: https://www.browngirlmagazine.com/2018/08/being-brown-coming-out-ibd-closet/*** Just as soon as he landed from India, a good friend called me, half laughing: “Tina, I know exactly what it feels like to be you now! I’ve had diarrhea for the last three weeks after eating at Elco Market in Mumbai! What do I do?” Another time when I was deathly ill, languishing from anemia, malnutrition and weight loss due to 20-30 bloody bowel movements a day, I remember the aunties ridiculing me. They would cackle behind my back as they proclaimed that I did this to myself. “She must have eaten lots of junk food and drank…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    October 6, 2019

    ~OYC Trailblazers~ Michelle’s Story on the Intersection of Crohn’s & an LGBTQIA+ Identity

    June 22, 2020

    ~OYC TRAILBLAZERS~ Katie’s Story: Baby-Making Prospects & Egg-Freezing with a J-Pouch

    September 4, 2019
  • awareness,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Independence Day,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    My Very Own Independence Day

    July 4, 2018

               Today, Independence Day 2018, marks 10 years since my colon and rectum were removed in emergency. I was 24 years old, 85 lbs, being fed by a PICC line and the hair on my head was greying from malnutrition. I was dying from IBD my doctors warned me as they urged me to have surgery. I remember that day so clearly when my then boyfriend/now husband, Anand, along with my close friend, Radhika, drove me into the city to have emergency surgery. And when my surgeon came up to me in the emergency room, he expressed that I may be too far-gone, that he was…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Allowing Acceptance In

    November 21, 2018

    No More Secrets: An enlightening film that reveals the stigma of having an ostomy in India

    September 24, 2018

    Clinical Trials: The Next Frontier for Diverse Populations of IBD Patients

    July 31, 2019
  • acceptance,  awareness,  caregivers,  colorectal cancer,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Father's Day,  living with IBD,  patient rights,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Honoring My Late Father

    June 17, 2018

    (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…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    December 1, 2018
  • coping with flare,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  patient rights,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Coming Out of My IBD Closet as a Desi Woman

    June 16, 2018

    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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Recent Posts

  • Feb 18, 2025 How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India
  • Jan 05, 2025 Key Takeaways from Advances in IBD (AIBD) 2024
  • Dec 05, 2024 Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 
  • Dec 04, 2024 Highlights from ACG 2024: SAIA’s IBDesis’ Patient Experience
  • Nov 18, 2024 SAIA is proud to announce Tina Aswani-Omprakash, MPH as our full-time CEO!

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