South Australian, Jordan Lambropoulos, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when she was nine years old and has been battling for her life ever since.
The 24-year-old Adelaide woman frequently visits Sydney for treatments and surgeries. In the past six months alone, Jordan has had nine surgeries.
“Crohn’s disease is all I’ve ever known,” Jordan told The Advertiser.
Although the disease itself isn’t usually fatal, it can cause severe complications if left untreated.
For Jordan, Crohn’s disease has been aggressive and she has never been in remission. She is on a restrictive diet and lives with a colostomy bag outside her abdomen, which she hides under her clothes.
Despite these ongoing struggles, Jordan maintains a positive attitude and spreads awareness for Crohn’s via her social media.
“It’s not something that should be stigmatised because at the end of the day, it’s a disease that we didn’t choose to be given – nobody chooses to live with a bowel disease,” she said.
“The best that we can do is to talk about it and raise awareness.”
Jordan will be travelling to Sydney again in January to receive a bone-marrow transplant.
She dreams of studying medicine so she can become a surgeon and hopefully assist others suffering with the disease.
Source: The Advertiser.
