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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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Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have announced the arrival of their fourth child, a baby boy born via surrogate. On Wednesday, the cookbook author, 37, and the “All of Me” singer, 44, shared the news that their family had expanded once more on Instagram, where they revealed they’d welcomed a son named Wren Alexander Stephens on 19 June. On Teigen’s Instagram, she reflected on the couple’s surrogacy journey in a lengthy post, in which she revealed that she’s wanted four children for “as long as [she] can remember”. In the emotional post, Teigen then reflected on the loss of her and Legend’s unborn child, Jack, in 2020, with the model revealing that she didn’t think she’d be able to “carry any more babies on my own”. According to Teigen, who gave birth to her and Legend’s third child, a daughter named Esti, in January 2023, she and the singer reached out to a surrogacy agency in 2021 about the possibility of “having two tandem surrogates, each to bring us a healthy baby boy or girl”. However, Teigen revealed that, early on in the surrogacy journey, she also decided that she wanted to try getting pregnant “just one more time”. “If it doesn’t work, we will be okay. We’ve already seen the worst,” she wrote. “I promised I would be okay no matter what happened.” According to the Cravings author, at that point, she and Legend started undergoing IVF, which she noted was the same process that allowed the couple to welcome their daughter Luna, seven, and son Miles, four. “We made new embryos. We did my transfer, and were so happy to learn it worked - we were pregnant with our little girl, Esti,” Teigen wrote, adding that “around this same time,” the couple also met the “most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate we could ever imagine”. In the candid post, Teigen revealed that the first embryo transfer to their surrogate “didn’t survive,” before noting how “hard” their surrogate fought to prepare for a second transfer. According to Teigen, she and Legend didn’t want to rush the process, and so they were “patient” as she enjoyed the first trimester of her pregnancy “with, of course, a little bit of fear that isn’t any different from any other expecting couple”. Teigen said she and Legend learned that their surrogate was pregnant with a boy as they “crept toward the safe zone” of her own pregnancy, with the celebrity chef writing that she and the family’s surrogate celebrated together with their “growing bellies, our families blending into one for the past year”. In the post, Teigen then revealed that she’d gotten to witness as the “most beautiful woman, my friend, our surrogate,” gave birth “just minutes before midnight” on 19 June. Teigen concluded the lengthy post expressing her gratitude to her surrogate for the “incredible gift” before sharing a photo of their surrogate and one of the couple holding their newborn child in the hospital. The final photo showed a close-up shot of the baby. “Our hearts, and our home, are officially full. And to our Jack, we know both their angel kisses are from you,” she wrote. Legend also shared the news of the baby’s arrival on his Instagram, where he posted a photo of himself surrounded by his and Teigen’s four children, as well as the photo of the couple cradling their newborn. “Wren Alexander Stephens, our new love,” Legend captioned the album. More follows… Read More Chrissy Teigen responds to critics claiming she has a ‘new face’: ‘I gained weight’ Chrissy Teigen praised for thanking team of four nannies in Mother’s Day tribute ‘My small rash turned out to be a parasite living in my leg after a beach trip’ Bre Tiesi reveals whether she’d have another child with Nick Cannon How do I get a mammogram screening?

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