Fitness Trainer Shares About The Condition That Left Him With A Hole In His Stomach

Samuel Richards, 23, a fitness trainer based in San Antonio, Texas lost around 50 pounds of his muscle mass. A fitness trainer who would go around flaunting his trained body was no longer in the condition to even stand up and go to the bathroom. He took to his Instagram to share his journey of what had happened to him and how from there he stood back up, worked on himself again, and is back to being a fitness trainer.

He shares, "I have something called ulcerative colitis and I have to live with this hole in my stomach, which is the small intestine sticking through."

What is Ulcerative Colitis?

As per the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), it is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in which abnormal reactions of the immune system cause inflammation and ulcers on the inner lining of your large intestine. This can develop at any age but is more common to have developed in ages between 15 and 30.

Symptoms:

The symptoms vary from person to person, however, some of the common symptoms include:

• Diarrhea
• Passing blood in your stool
• Abdominal pain

It could be treated with medicines to reduce inflammation in the large intestine and help bring on and maintain remission. In some cases, doctors recommend surgery to treat ulcerative colitis. In Samuel's case, it was the surgery that left a hole in his stomach.

Colon Removal Surgery

He shared how because of the inflammation in his colon he had to get it removed, he says, "This affects the colon and I don't have mine. Which basically means I don't have to do number 2 anymore, I kind of just empty that in my bag." So, how does all of this happen?

This is what brings us to the colectomy or the bowel resection surgery. It is a surgical operation to remove part or all of your colon, depending on the situation of the patient. Why is the pouch attached to the stomach?

After your bowels have been resected, your surgeon could join the severed ends right away. If this is not the possibility, your surgeon may do it later, or at times it is just not possible. This is when your colectomy ends with colostomy or ileostomy. This means if your bowels cannot be reconnected at the time of your surgery, your surgeon will create a stoma in your abdominal wall and redirect the upper portion of your intestines to the stoma.

The Journey Ahead

Samuel shared that experts still do not know why it happens, though it has now become common knowledge that it happens because of genetics and stress. However, nobody is yet able to pinpoint the exact reason. As per the NIDDK, while experts are not sure what causes ulcerative colitis, they think it is genes, abnormal immune reactions, the microbiome, and the environment that play a major role.

Samuel now goes about his day with a stoma and a colostomy bag, which collects the waste from his intestine. It was on December 26, 2023, when he was admitted to the hospital with his condition. He was bleeding and had to use the bathroom every 15 minutes. He was so weak that he could not even make it out of the bed. After his colon was removed, he was still weak, struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. However, he kept at it, from being a fitness trainer, he had no muscle mass left. In his videos where he documented his journey, one can clearly see the bones showing through his skin.

However, it is his perseverance along with the medical assistance that helped him to bounce right back.