Taking Back Control

By Basit

Throughout my childhood, I was always super ill, even though I didn’t look it. When I was 8 my health got so bad one night I was rushed to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.

Being so young I had no clue about the severity of the situation, the only word that really struck me was "incurable". That word made me feel so trapped, with no escape from the pain, ever. The doctors told me that despite being 'incurable' there was a medication that would minimize the pain. But, from that day forward the pain would only get worse. I was going through every treatment option available to me. Not even one took the pain away.

Constantly getting my hopes up when starting a new treatment, only to have those hopes trampled on broke me. I fell into a deep depression. It got so bad when I was 18 that I began contemplating suicide. I wish I could say that was the moment I turned my life around, but it wasn’t, a couple months later weighing only 38kg, hair falling out from all the chemo meds, I was admitted to the hospital. As I lay in my hospital bed, the moment that completely changed my life was when my doctor told me things weren’t looking good, and that I could die. That night as I gazed out my window crying thinking back on my life, full of regret: I had allowed this disease to make me a spectator in my own life. That was when I made a promise to myself that if I make it out of that hospital, no matter what, I will live life.

I survived with a newfound perspective. Since then I have found a treatment that eliminated my Crohn’s symptoms, and I have since kickstarted my personal development journey all focused on improving my mental health.

I am now physically and mentally the healthiest I have ever been. I now share my story and the lessons I have learned through social media (@mind_of_basit) and public speaking: to provide hope and inspire others who may be suffering, to start their own personal development journey, and take back control of their life.