Health
Teen went from being completely healthy to being told she was going to die within two weeks
Lucy Harman was living a pretty normal teenage life for a 19-year-old college student, but that all changed within two weeks.
D.G. Sciortino
01.06.22

Lucy Harman was living a pretty normal teenage life for a 19-year-old college student.

That all changed within two weeks.

During that time, she suffered from organ failure and was told that she was going to die.

Crohn’s Disease tried to kill her three more times.

But it didn’t.

Instead, Harman turned her tragedy into a social media movement that promoted positive and helped raise funds for Crohn’s Disease charities.

According to Love What Matters, Harman had never heard of Crohn’s Disease, an incurable autoimmune disease that inflames the digestive system and causes ulcers that bleed and prevent the body from absorbing nutrients causing malnutrition and dehydration.

It can cause immense pain and fatigue. Harman started with ignoring abdominal pain but was eventually unable to hold down food.

She was rushed to the hospital on Christmas Day and was told she was dying of malnutrition and inflammation of her organs which were shutting down.

“I was dying,” she told Southern Daily Echo. “I had to rely on a drip to keep my body functioning.”

Thankfully Harman survived and went on to start a Crohn’s awareness page.

“Since being diagnosed I have realized how much of a mental struggle Crohn’s Disease is. I have had to learn to adapt to a completely new lifestyle centered around hospital visits and treatments. I have had to accept I will never be who I was before I got IBD, and have to learn that people will judge and many do not understand and will never understand what it’s like to be me. As IBD fighters, we have to find coping strategies. For me, that was social media and raising awareness,” she wrote for Love What Matters.

Harman started a blog and social media page to discuss her experience with Crohn’s and how to positively deal with it.

She ended up making hundreds of friends and helping others who also had Crohn’s.

The disease has also brought her closer to her family. Harman went on to start doing walks for Crohn’s disease and has done about 23 marathons.

She’s raised more than $4,7000 for Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

“I was so proud of myself for taking something so negative and creating a want for change. I hope to spend every summer raising money to hopefully help find a cure in my lifetime,” she wrote.

While the disease has brought a lot of struggle and pain for Harman, she says it’s also taught her to count her blessings and look out for the silver lining.

“Sometimes I may lose focus of what is important in life and I may stumble, I will fall, I will feel weak but what matters is being strong enough to know I can get up again, I can keep going and eventually my path in life shall carve,” she writes.

You can read Harman’s full Love What Matters post here. You can also follow her on Instagram and her blog.

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