The power of love in IBD

大学毕业后的生活应该是新的机会，新冒险和无尽的可能性之一。对于娜塔莉·海登（Natalie Hayden）来说，她担心自己会错过成为电视记者的梦想，因为她被诊断出患有克罗恩病（Crohn's Disease），这是一种炎症性肠病，会引起胃肠道慢性炎症。

“I didn’t know what was going on. I felt very isolated and very alone,” says Hayden, who at the time would fight through the pain and continue to attend social events, often suffering in silence. “Finding out at 21 that you have a disease that has no cure is a very heavy burden to bear.”

Eventually Hayden settled for a new normal. She powered through her pain and fatigue on a daily basis, until she experienced fewer “good” days because of her symptoms.

快进了三年，海登（Hayden）由于小肠中的网球大小而住院时，她从事了她的梦想工作，担任电视新闻主播。之后，海登的医生下令改变治疗。

然后，在她第一次被诊断出她的八年后，她遇到了她一生的热爱，鲍比。

“On the third date she told me she had Crohn’s. For me, I didn’t know much about the disease, but it had no bearing on how I felt about her,” he says. “I’d never even had a hospitalization, but I knew I wanted to be there for her.”

They kept seeing each other. Six months into the relationship, she had a bowel obstruction which landed her in the hospital for several days.

“A bowel obstruction would make me black out because the pain is so intense that there is nothing else I can focus on,” recalls Hayden. “It brought me to my knees. I could barely walk.”

这对夫妇在2015年订婚后不久，海登（Hayden）感到腹部熟悉的疼痛，并且知道这是另一个肠梗阻。她最终在肠切除术中取出了18英寸的小肠。

当她意识到自己需要一支新的护理团队时，她当时的前辈在她身边，她觉得真的会听到她的担忧和需求，并且在她的护理方面也更加自信。

“We should always strive to have better care and improve her number of good days,” says Bobby Hayden. “I just try to be there for her, listen to her, and ask her - how can I help?"

就在去年，她独自去胃肠病学家的任命感到很自在，但是娜塔莉（Natalie）继续诚实地沟通自己的疾病，无论是与丈夫，医生或在线社区在一起。她建议其他患者找到并建立自己的支持网络，无论是与家人，朋友还是在线。

今天，这对夫妇已婚，抚养了两个小孩。娜塔莉·海登（Natalie Hayden）正在缓解，继续担任耐心的倡导者和博客作者。

To see how Natalie and Bobby Hayden navigate her disease and their daily life, watch the video above.