Letter to the Editor: Ostomy surgery praised by reader – Fontana Herald-News

Dear Editor:

My name is Jacqueline Osollo, and I have a front butt!

I'm a 32-year old single mother, born and raised in Fontana, and with your help I'm going to shatter the stigmas surrounding ostomies!

Ostomy surgeries are life-saving procedures that pass bodily waste through a surgically created stoma on the abdomen into a "'pouch" or "ostomy bag" on the outside of the body, or an internal surgically created pouch.

I was diagnosed in 2011 with pan ulcerative colitis. This autoimmune disease attacks my colon, large intestine, and has hospitalized me every year like clockwork.

The symptoms can be so debilitating you live like a hermit in your own home. The pain was so bad at times I felt like Kane, from the movie "Alien," where the baby alien rips its way through the abdomen.

Almost 10 years had gone by before I got my surgery. I received a total colectomy with an ileostomy and it was the best decision I have ever made.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have done this surgery sooner. This surgery gave me my life, freedom, and happiness back.

Oct. 3 is the 10th anniversary of Ostomy Awareness Day. There are 725,000+ people living with an ostomy pouching system in the US. I encourage everyone to learn more and lend your support to people living with an ostomy. For more information. please visit http://www.ostomy.org.

Jacqueline Osollo

Fontana

Link:
Letter to the Editor: Ostomy surgery praised by reader - Fontana Herald-News