Twenty-year-old Shanniah McKenzie has dreams of being a psychologist, but first she must navigate a roadblock to get to it.
She has been diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis – a serious complication of ulcerative colitis which has no known cure and can be life threatening.
Her debilitating disease which was diagnosed in 2020, saw her taking more time to complete high school as she was in and out of hospital. She did an additional two years.
Not daunted, Shanniah did her studies at home and completed her CSEC exams earning grade 1’s and 2’s in CXC, in a total of nine subjects, mostly in the sciences.
“I graduated in 2022 but at the beginning of 2023, things took a turn in the worst way possible,” she wrote in a Go fund me campaign that has been established to help her raise US$49,000 to assist with financing two upcoming operations. The money is also to help her with taking care of incurred medical expenses.
For the past three years, her mother has been solely taking care of her and doing everything possible to ensure the disease is managed. The disease is getting more aggressive and her condition worsened following a flare that has left her severely anaemic and caused her to be admitted to the University Hospital of the West Indies. All this is interfering with her school and dreams of matriculating into college.
“While I was there, the doctors could no longer help by prescribing medications and biologics and believed the only way to save my life was to do surgery to remove my large intestines. I was bleeding out and in severe pain every day; medical intervention had failed me. I had no choice but to remove my colon,” she informed.
Having removed her colon, she admitted to being afraid and feeling like a part of her was missing. For her, she had removed a part of herself that she could never get back. Her mother was devastated, but she managed to hold her daughter up when she broke down.
“I was overwhelmed and my mom was having to watch me go through something that she couldn’t fix and I knew it broke her,” she said.
Help was sought from her school and from other sources with no success, as many thought her illness wasn’t as severe as it was made out to be.
For three months Shanniah was hospitalised after doing an ileostomy – a surgical operation in which a damaged part is removed from the ileum and the cut end diverted to an artificial opening in the abdominal wall.
She needs to have two more surgeries to give her a better quality of life.
After struggling for four years, Shanniah is now pleading for assistance so she can move on with her life and live it to the fullest.
Her next surgery is set for January 2024, six months from her last one in August. It will be her third and she hopes final surgery.
“The main concern is paying for my surgeries, but some funds will go to paying off my hospital bills for when I was hospitalised, my colostomy supplies including bags, support belts, stoma paste, among other things as I am disabled and required the colostomy to pass waste,” she informed.
Her battles, which she is still fighting, has inspired her to become an advocate to give back. She now wants to help those with chronic illnesses come to terms with it, and help them to deal with the psychological weight it poses on them.
“Mental health is very important to me, as I have struggled with it personally and for those without the support or those who feel like no one would understand, having someone who’s story can inspire them will help lift them up to carry on with life, grab a hold of every opportunity, and enjoy the small moments of happiness that life has to offer,” she said.
Shanniah shared that having an illness does not stop you from dreaming or achieving those dreams as she stresses that she is more than her illness and a force to be reckoned with. She just needs a chance to show that.
For those who reached out to her to offer encouragement and support to keep going, she said she is appreciative of the sentiments.
“Please, if my story has touched your heart, I ask of you to donate whatever it is you can to help me get the rest of these surgeries that I need. Your help would mean the world to me and my family,” she concludes.
To assist Shanniah, the following options can be explored.
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$sundrop19
