{"id":5615,"date":"2016-06-02T13:51:08","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T13:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/?p=5615"},"modified":"2016-06-02T13:51:08","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T13:51:08","slug":"crohns-disease-selfies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/","title":{"rendered":"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#8216;Invisible Illness&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A girl has posted a series of selfies on social media revealing the struggle she faces living with her &#8220;invisible illness&#8221; &#8211; Crohn&#8217;s Disease.\u00a0Aimee Rouski, 19, from Liverpool, uploaded the images &#8211; including one of her\u00a0ileostomy bag and another showing a number of scars on her legs left from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/life-saving-donor\/\">surgery<\/a> &#8211; as a way of battling\u00a0the stigma surrounding the disease.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5619 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Crohns-Disease-Selfie-1.jpg\" alt=\"Crohns Disease Selfie 1\" width=\"700\" height=\"931\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Crohn&#8217;s Disease is a\u00a0chronic condition that causes ulceration and inflammation of the digestive system.\u00a0Symptoms include diarrhea (often with blood), severe <a href=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/the-incredible-story-of-a-young-burn-victims-journey-from-afghanistan\/\">pain<\/a>, extreme <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/shift-work-sleep-disorder-swsd\/\">fatigue<\/a>, and sudden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/black-spots-in-stool\/\">weight loss<\/a>. At present the disease has no cure or vaccination, and sufferers often face surgery.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5630\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Crohns-Disease-FB-post.png\" alt=\"Crohns Disease FB post\" width=\"700\" height=\"491\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Aimee was diagnosed with Crohn\u2019s disease\u00a0when she was just 11-years-old, after suffering constant stomach cramps, loss of appetite, severe weight loss and anal fissures.\u00a0At\u00a015, she was admitted to hospital for seven months, and received\u00a0three lots of major surgery. She had her large intestine and colon removed, and muscles taken from her inner thighs to cover her external wounds. It was at this point that her ileostomy bag was fitted.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5626 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Crohns-Disease-Selfie-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Crohns Disease Selfie 3\" width=\"700\" height=\"1160\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Her <a href=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/facebook-status-dad-leaves-family\/\">Facebook<\/a> post read:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>&#8220;I&#8217;ve wanted to do this for a while because I always see body posi posts for weight, but not many for disabilities \/ invisible illnesses.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>First off I have Crohn&#8217;s disease, it&#8217;s a serious incurable illness that nearly killed me, not just a stomach ache like most people seem to think.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A person with crohns will go through many different treatments including surgery, and it&#8217;s the surgery I want to touch on now.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>My Crohns has left me with a permanent ileostomy, no large intestine, colon, rectum, anus, or inner thigh muscles as they were used for <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/countries-for-affordable-high-quality-cosmetic-surgery\/\">plastic surgery<\/a> on my wounds.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>I&#8217;ve always been okay with the stuff that has happened to me, but some people have real difficulties accepting these things so I just want to say this.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>No one will know unless you tell them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>People who know will still love you and still find you beautiful.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Your illness is nothing to be ashamed or embarras<\/em><em>sed about&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5620 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Crohns-Disease-Selfie-2.jpg\" alt=\"Crohns Disease Selfie 2\" width=\"700\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Aimee\u2019s post has received over 14,000 likes and almost 5,000 shares so far. We hope that her story gives Crohn&#8217;s Disease the exposure it deserves.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5622 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Crohns-Disease-Selfie-4.jpg\" alt=\"Crohns Disease Selfie 4\" width=\"699\" height=\"709\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A girl has posted a series of selfies on social media revealing the struggle she faces living with her &#8220;invisible illness&#8221; &#8211; Crohn&#8217;s Disease.\u00a0Aimee Rouski, 19, from Liverpool, uploaded the images &#8211; including one of her\u00a0ileostomy bag and another showing a number of scars on her legs left from\u00a0surgery &#8211; as a way of battling\u00a0the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[969,1124,1130,1765,1987,2015,3453],"class_list":{"0":"post-5615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-crohns-disease","9":"tag-disability-stigma","10":"tag-disease-stigma","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-illness-stigma","13":"tag-invisible-illness","14":"tag-stigma"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#039;Invisible Illness&#039; - Daily Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#039;Invisible Illness&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A girl has posted a series of selfies on social media revealing the struggle she faces living with her &#8220;invisible illness&#8221; &#8211; Crohn&#8217;s Disease.\u00a0Aimee Rouski, 19, from Liverpool, uploaded the images &#8211; including one of her\u00a0ileostomy bag and another showing a number of scars on her legs left from\u00a0surgery &#8211; as a way of battling\u00a0the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-02T13:51:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily-Digest-News.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Felicity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Felicity\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Felicity\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/600c257fb9e449273495f6fb7affe735\"},\"headline\":\"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#8216;Invisible Illness&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-02T13:51:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\"},\"wordCount\":386,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"Crohn's Disease\",\"Disability stigma\",\"Disease stigma\",\"Health\",\"illness stigma\",\"Invisible illness\",\"Stigma\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\",\"name\":\"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her 'Invisible Illness' - Daily Digest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-02T13:51:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#8216;Invisible Illness&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/\",\"name\":\"Daily Digest News\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily Digest News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily_Digest_News.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily_Digest_News.png\",\"width\":796,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Daily Digest News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/600c257fb9e449273495f6fb7affe735\",\"name\":\"Felicity\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Felicity\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/author\/felicity\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her 'Invisible Illness' - Daily Digest","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her 'Invisible Illness'","og_description":"A girl has posted a series of selfies on social media revealing the struggle she faces living with her &#8220;invisible illness&#8221; &#8211; Crohn&#8217;s Disease.\u00a0Aimee Rouski, 19, from Liverpool, uploaded the images &#8211; including one of her\u00a0ileostomy bag and another showing a number of scars on her legs left from\u00a0surgery &#8211; as a way of battling\u00a0the","og_url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/","og_site_name":"Daily Digest","article_published_time":"2016-06-02T13:51:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1366,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily-Digest-News.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Felicity","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Felicity","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/"},"author":{"name":"Felicity","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/600c257fb9e449273495f6fb7affe735"},"headline":"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#8216;Invisible Illness&#8217;","datePublished":"2016-06-02T13:51:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/"},"wordCount":386,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["Crohn's Disease","Disability stigma","Disease stigma","Health","illness stigma","Invisible illness","Stigma"],"articleSection":["Health"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2016","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/","url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/","name":"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her 'Invisible Illness' - Daily Digest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2016-06-02T13:51:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/crohns-disease-selfies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Girl Posted Brave Selfies To Fight Stigma Towards Her &#8216;Invisible Illness&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/","name":"Daily Digest News","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization","name":"Daily Digest News","url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily_Digest_News.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily_Digest_News.png","width":796,"height":768,"caption":"Daily Digest News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/600c257fb9e449273495f6fb7affe735","name":"Felicity","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Felicity"},"url":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/author\/felicity\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}