When Sofia Ali started experiencing intense stomach pain in summer 2016, she initially assumed it was just a stomach bug.
But after she started to lose control of her bowels, she went to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract.
When her condition worsened, the then-16-year-old, from Toronto, Canada, was forced to undergo surgery to have her intestine rerouted and she was fitted with an ostomy bag.
However, she longed for reversal surgery and had it performed one year later but, when her intestines began leaking, she had to have the bag refitted.
Sofia, now 19, say her bag is no longer her most hated feature and she said she wants to break the stigma surrounding the medical device.
Sofia Ali started experiencing intense stomach pain in summer 2016 at age 16, but she initially assumed it was just a stomach bug. Pictured: Sofia with her ostomy bag
She was eventually diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. Sofia (left and right) was given medication to help control her symptoms
Sofia said that when her symptoms first began, she using the bathroom more than 20 times a day and her bowel movements were often bloody.
'My stomach pain was almost constant, and it got worse every time I ate anything. It only got better with pain medication,' she said.
'It wasn't until I began to lose control of my bowel movements and was too weak to leave the house. Then I knew it was more than a stomach bug, so I went to the hospital.'
Staff performed ultrasounds and X-rays, but didn't see anything wrong with Sofia, so they sent her home with laxatives.
However, Sofia's condition quickly worsened so she decided to visit a different hospital.
She spent a week on IV fluids and had a colonoscopy done before being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
Doctors aren't exactly sure what causes ulcerative colitis, but believe it occurs when the immune system mistakes food and beneficial gut bacteria as an invading virus or bacterium and attacks it.
In October 2016, Sofia was admitted to the hospital with a high fever and low heart rate. Doctors discovered her colon was perforated and she was fitted with an ostomy bag. Pictured: Sofia in the hospital in 2017
An ostomy bag allows urine and stool to pass through a surgically-created stoma on the abdomen. Sofia (left and right) said she was ashamed of the bag on her stomach and wanted it removed
An
