Meet Ivy

This is Ivy! She is 14 years old and a Freshman in high school. She was diagnosed with IBS about 6 or 7 years ago but within the last year, things took a turn for the worse. She’s very active as a Cross Country and Track runner and is naturally AWESOME at it with her long legs! Over the last few years she had tried different sports to find her favorite but started struggling with ”episodes” of severe stomach pain and bloating and nausea which took her out of games/meets or made her leave early because she couldn’t handle it. Finally in August we ended up at Riley Children’s hospital and an NG tube with fears of a rare hernia. We got her into surgery to find that she had excess scar tissue in her abdomen, an accessory spleen and had about a foot of her colon had to be removed. Then in December 2019 we ended up back at Riley with another NG tube and surgery...her stomach had been ”flipping” and the mysterious excess scar tissue had bound her small intestines up. Surgery was performed to pin her stomach in place and release her small intestines to move freely as they should. My husband met Pebbles in the Ronald McDonald house when he was down there eating supper one evening and the rest is history. She came home Christmas Eve (with her Mooky) and the understanding that her bowels will take a while to wake up (which is normal when they are touched and manipulated in surgeries like she had). Here we are, almost 3 months out and shes still having issues. We are now seeing a Motility Specialist and a psychologist as well as regular appointments/communication with her GI Specialist at Riley as they have all said she is a huge mystery to all of them but assured us we will get this straightened out. Through all of this, my daughter Ivy has kept a smile on her face and has incredible strength that she wants to encourage and share with others! Thank you Pebbles and the Mooky Project for checking in and helping all of these wonderful, brave and amazing children smile!