A mum who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease aged 13 and had to have her colon removed eleven years later as it became pre-cancerous, giving her a “second chance at life”, is now an influencer bearing all to show it is possible to “live a beautiful, normal, happy life” with a stoma bag. Meghan Cary Brown, 31, a stay-at-home mum and content creator, from Charlottesville, Virginia, in the US, spent most of her teenage years in “so much pain” and had to “deal with bullying as well as being sick”. At 24, the mum of two, to Cora, three, and 23-month-old Colin, was told her colon was precancerous, causing her to “collapse on the floor crying”, just eight months after she had married Thomas Brown, now 31, a project manager. Meghan was in a “very dark place” and was “overcome with sadness” at the thought of getting cancer, so with some encouragement from her doctor, had her colon removed and had a stoma bag fitted. One year later she created an Instagram page, and more recently a TikTok, to share her story and raise awareness about life with a stoma bag with thousands of followers. Her postings include an open discussion of her experience, sharing bikini pictures and openly explaining she has worn “beautiful lacy wraps” for stoma bags in intimate moments with her partner, and it has “served as a healing mechanism” to make her realise she needs to “stop worrying so much” about the opinions of others. “I started posting as I wanted people to see that you can live this beautiful, normal, happy life with an ostomy bag, and when I was researching it I couldn’t see anyone my age talking about it,” she told PA Real Life “But the other reason was that it almost served as a healing mechanism for me – I think it was really powerful to just put myself out there on the internet. “Like, this year at the beach for the first time I wore a bikini with my bag on show and it felt amazing – I just thought life is too short.” After Meghan was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease she had to be home-schooled for a year because she “could not even get out of bed”. Meghan said: “My parents would find me lying on the bathroom floor because I could not get up and walk to the bed, I was in so much pain, and I had so much fatigue. “But it was also hard because since I was home-schooled, we didn’t have social media or anything, so no-one knew where I was, and there were lots of rumours spread about me – I had to deal with bullying as well as being sick.” Meghan was put on lots of different medications and had to deal with their side effects, such as giving her a “big moon face” as she retained water. She said: “I can remember having to get clothes three times my size and just breaking down crying. “That’s really difficult when you’re a teenage girl.” One year later Meghan was “in remission” for Crohn’s and was able to return to school. She continued taking “maintenance medication” which kept her symptoms at bay but, when she was in her first year of university, she began getting sick again. She explained: “I fell out of remission and it turned out I formed antibodies towards the drug I was taking so it was no longer working. “I had to inject myself at home while in college so it was really difficult.” Meghan also had to have regular hospital visits and aged 24, eight months after getting married, a routine colonoscopy showed that her colon was pre-cancerous. She said: “When they told me I had high-grade dysplasia deep within the tissue of my colon, and it was pre-cancerous, I was heartbroken. “I can remember standing in the kitchen when my doctor told me this over the phone, and it made me collapse on the floor crying because when you hear that word, cancerous, all you can think is that you’re going to die. “It was terrifying.” At the follow-up appointment Meghan was told she could have routine checks to make sure the cancer was not progressing or have her colon removed. She said: “I was adamant that I wasn’t going to have my colon removed – I thought my life would be over if I had that done. “I was in a very dark place and I was overcome with sadness. “But when I told my doctor my decision, he explained that I could have it removed now, or in a few years’ time I could be a mum with young children and have cancer. “That just put things into perspective for me – it made me realise it’s not just about me, so I decided to have it removed.” From that moment on, Meghan decided to live her life to the full. She said: “I decided I was going to look at this as my second chance at life – I had already been incredibly sick for 10 years – I told myself I was going to look at this as a positive thing. “Before, there were so many things I couldn’t do, like I had so much anxiety riding in a car because I couldn’t control my bowels and I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a bathroom.” It took Meghan a few months to get used to having a stoma bag, and she explained what it is like day-to-day: “I change the whole system appliance every three to four days, and throughout the day I have no feeling. “I don’t have the urge to go to the bathroom, it just happens. “Throughout the day I’ll just go to the bathroom and empty my bag – I do this around six to eight times a day.” Meghan also had to adjust to having a stoma bag while being intimate with her husband. She said: “I wore beautiful lacy wraps made for people with bags, with a pocket to tuck it in, as it helped my body image because I felt pretty. “But honestly, now I’ve had my ostomy bag for almost seven years, we’re so comfortable with one another – if anything ever happens during intimacy, we just can laugh it off and move on.” One year after having her bag fitted she decided to create an Instagram account to share her story, where she now has more than 14,100 followers, and a further 19,400 followers on TikTok. Meghan said: “It really puts life into perspective and really made me realise life is so short. “I need to stop worrying so much about the opinions of others, or what other people are going to think – making my Instagram account made me realise this too. “I’m just so happy to be happy and healthy.” Read More Charlotte Dawson gives birth to her and Matt Sarsfield’s ‘rainbow baby’ How to sleep during hot weather, according to experts How to keep your pet safe and healthy during a heatwave Charlotte Dawson gives birth to her and Matt Sarsfield’s ‘rainbow baby’ How to sleep during hot weather, according to experts How to keep your pet safe and healthy during a heatwave

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Jazmin Sagastiverza and Jean Franco Vergaray have an untraditional love story. That continued when the two got engaged and Sagastiverza began to go wedding dress shopping. The couple originally met in 2015 when Sagastivera went to a dance class with a different date and Vergaray was the one teaching it. She said they hit it off quickly and have been together ever since. They got engaged in September 2021 and were married on 1 April 2023. "We had a lot of little jokes on the invite [about the date]," Sagastiverza told Insider. "We were like, ‘And this is not an April fools’ joke, so if you’re coming, please RSVP. The wedding had around 50 guests in attendance as the pair wanted something “really intimate.” It was a destination wedding in Baja California, Mexico, at the Villa Santa Cruz. "We keep describing it as a beachy fever dream," Sagastiverza said. "It was just very, very chill." One aspect that wasn’t very chill was wedding dress shopping. Originally, Sagastiverza didn’t have an idea regarding what type of dress she wanted and remained open-minded by trying on everything. "I had so many different options," she said. “The only thing she was convinced couldn’t work was a slip dress because she didn’t think she was tall enough. “You have to be, like, 5’9,” she said. The situation improved after she had an appointment at Les Aimants, a New York-based bridal brand. This “bridal lab” allows brides to pick and choose specific pieces from various wedding dresses to be combined into one custom wedding dress in eight to 12 weeks. To ensure the dress fits the bride perfectly, its founder, Manon Martin uses 3-D rendering software in addition to 3-D body measuring to create renderings that allow brides to customise their dresses as they are made. Sagastiverza showed up at the Greenpoint, Brooklyn, studio after failed attempts looking in Manhattan. She sat down with Martin over a glass of champagne to figure out what type of dress she wanted. Martin suggested she partially customise her dress by taking the top and bottom from two different gowns. As skeptical as Sagastiverza was about trying on a slip dress, she trusted Martin’s opinion and it was almost perfect. The gown had spaghetti straps and a V-neckline with triangular detailing on the bodice with a simple skirt. But she still felt something was missing until Martin brought out a detachable train that had flowers embroidered on it which sealed the deal for her. The entire back of the dress was customized to become backless so the train sat at her waist. "I just felt like it was really tailored to me, which was the thing that set her apart from every other place that I went to," Sagastiverza said. Throughout the process, she was able to see what the dress looked like on a 3-D rendering of her body measurements to make sure she loved it. "I put it on, and I was like, ‘I feel so expensive,’" she said. "It’s crazy because you compare it to other places, and it was actually really affordable.” In total the dress cost approximately $2,700. Read More Rita Ora shares why she chose a see-through wedding dress: ‘It was meant to be’ Bride cuts and dyes her wedding dress purple for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Leigh-Anne Pinnock unveils the three wedding dresses she wore to marry Andre Gray in Jamaica

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