A personal trainer with ulcerative colitis, or irritable bowel disease, made the radical decision of having his large intestine removed in a procedure that has changed his life for the better.
Learn more about his inspiring story here:
[rumble video_id=v6951z domain_id=u7nb2]
Video credit: Rumble
Mesha Moinirad, 29, from Weymouth, UK, had been under medication for four years before coming to his life-changing decision. He has to use a stoma bag now but he’s healthier than ever and has taken to social media to share his incredible story.
He said: “Having a stoma massively changed my life for the better, by having my bag fitted it enabled me to have fun in my life again.
“While I was on medication, I couldn’t do anything. I could barely walk to the toilet.
“When I first got my bag fitted, it was a shock, I was scared. But it’s a massive life change for the positive, it gave me my life back.”
Mesha was a fit twenty-something who regularly worked out. You wouldn’t think that he would soon suffer an illness that would almost take his life.
His dream was to work with elite athletes in America and studied nutrition in the university to make it come true. But in 2013, he suffered a severe illness where he almost died.
He lost 21 lbs in only 10 days and doctors at first couldn’t determine what was wrong with Mesha.
But after his father took him to a hospital, they discovered that his appendix had burst. Doctors gave him a 20 percent chance to survive the ordeal.
“Over the next two weeks, I went down to the theatre every day. They would take my organs all out, wash them and put them back in.
“After that period, I got better, I left the hospital after a month and went home to recover and put the weight back on.
“I had a massive abdominal scar which for someone who is 21, quite body-conscious and would train six times a week – that was quite a hard thing to overcome.”
Before Mesha got diagnosed, he was already suffering from severe abdominal cramping and fatigue. He also found himself going to the toilet more frequently.
After eight months of biopsies, blood tests, and colonoscopies, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. This meant Mesha needed to strictly monitor his diet and received an aggressive regimen of medicines to control his condition.
But after four years, he started doing research on his condition online. What he found convinced him to have an ileostomy which would entail removing his large intestine. However, that would result in him needing a stoma bag for the rest of his life.
“It was a little bit of a relief because I’d been on medication for so long.
“It does come with a lot of frustration because all of a sudden you’ve got to cut out a lot of foods.
“It’s a massive learning curve. It’s a part of the condition and you have to move with it.
“It’s the little things, you obviously have to deal with a massive abdominal scar, which is quite hard.”
Mesha admits that coming to terms with his body issues after the surgery became a challenge because of how much social media was now a part of peoples’ lives.
He started by posting as ‘Mr. Colitis Crohn’s’ hosting Q&A sessions that sought to educate people who are new to their stoma bags.
“A huge part of my acceptance was done through vlogging and looking at other people online and how they perceive themselves.
“It makes me feel I’ve got a community and I’ve got people to speak to and I’m not isolated.
“This is where Mr. Colitis Crohn’s has evolved from, from that point I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to live with this’, I started going live and a following started to build up from there.
“It’s rewarding to be able to give people information that could help them.”
Mesha currently works in a rehabilitative gym as a personal trainer helping people be in the best shape they can be in an inclusive space.
He wants to change how people look at those who wear a bag through his social media advocacy and by educating others that not all disabilities can be seen.
Mesha said: “I hope there will be a better understanding of invisible illness, but this is growing.
“I want people to feel confident to wear a bag.
“For anyone else who has to get a bag in the future, you will have anxieties and that’s totally normal, but it will be absolutely fine.”
Replaced!