Wed. Nov 27th, 2024
zoey wright

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (better known as IBD) affects 1 in 250 people in the UK, with the two main types of IBD being Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease.

Ulcerative Colitis currently affects around 146,000 people in the UK with Crohn’s Disease hitting around 115,000.

IBD can be extremely debilitating for some, with symptoms that include chronic fatigue, pain, swelling or cramping in the tummy, extreme weight loss and recurring diarrhoea. These symptoms can occur in varied amounts and can leave some housebound, unable to work or enjoy normal day-to-day activities.

IBD can often be seen as a taboo subject, but one girl hoping to break the stigma is Zoey Wright, who had life-changing surgery after battling Ulcerative Colitis for two years.

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During 2012 Zoey had first noticed something wasn’t right within her body, then in just four weeks her weight dropped from 140lbs to 112lbs.

Zoey was frequently being admitted into hospital and had been trialling various medications to attempt to treat the condition.

Her body was shutting down as her white blood cells attacked the healthy lining of her bowel wall, making the bowel extremely ulcerated.

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She says: ‘I remember stepping on the scales and seeing the numbers and I couldn’t believe it. I went from being a healthy 140lb to an unhealthy 112lb in less than four weeks.

‘I just cried… I cried a lot. I could barely walk and sometimes I couldn’t even leave my bed to even wash myself because I was so weak.’

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This drastic weight loss was a cause for concern and led her doctor to informing her that she would need to have ileostomy surgery – a surgical procedure in which some of or all of the large bowel is removed, and the end of the small bowel is pulled to the outside of the abdomen, forming a stoma.

Somehow, Zoey’s health recuperated enough for her to escape the proposed surgery.

The experience motivated her into trying to heal her body herself instead of relying only on the doses of medication being prescribed to her.

After her hospital stay, she made it her mission to put back on the weight she lost – but she did it with a difference.

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Zoey knew putting on weight would be a struggle with her condition, so she decided instead to gain weight through bodybuilding.

With the help of her partner, Conor, also a bodybuilder, Zoey began a new lease of life as a bodybuilder.

But sadly, every time she felt she was getting stronger, her UC got the better of her.

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‘Every time I was getting stronger… my UC would remind me it was there, tearing away my insides, causing me chronic pain and leading to countless hospital admissions, countless drugs, treatments. It was mentally and physically pulling me down,’ she says.

With all hard work and little improvement, in November 2014, Zoey made the brave decision to have the ileostomy surgery her doctor had suggested in 2012.

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Now, 10 months on from her surgery, Zoey is currently in training for her first bodybuilding show and while some of the symptoms remain, the pain is more bearable and she feels better than ever.

Of course, surgery can play with your emotions and can leave you feeling pretty down, but Zoey, who says on her Insta bio that she’ll be ‘rocking her ileostomy’ when she hits the stage, remains upbeat.

‘Whenever I felt down, I found myself turning it into motivation. Yes, this illness had taken my bowel and changed me physically but why let it change you mentally?

‘When you have passion and drive for something you enjoy nothing will stop you.

‘Body building has always been my coping mechanism and it continues to be that every single day. I’m in control and I’m going to kill it.’

Courtesy of: Metro UK