- Peta’s daughter, Ella, suffered years of stomach pain and weight loss before being diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease
- After treatment, she improved, but three years later, Ella’s sister Charlotte was given the same diagnosis
- Now they manage regular hospital visits, but both girls are healthier and thriving
Here Peta Eriksson, 51, Brisbane, Qld shares her story in her own words.
‘Mum, my stomach hurts,’ said my girl Ella, then 10.
It was a regular complaint and I was at my wit’s end. Over the years she’d been treated for everything from parasites, and food intolerances to gastro, but nothing worked.
She’d stopped eating very much and looked really fragile. Her skin was pale, and she was constantly exhausted.
‘She was always one of the tallest in class, but now her mates have started towering over her,’ I said anxiously to my husband Anders, then 49.
‘That’s true,’ he agreed.
Then she began losing a kilo a week, which was alarming. When she got down to 27 kilos our GP got very concerned.
‘This is serious,’ he said.
‘Her skin was pale, and she was constantly exhausted.’
He rang 15 paediatric gastroenterologists until one agreed to see her immediately. Over the next days, Ella had blood tests, scans, a colonoscopy, and an endoscopy.
The blood tests revealed she was anaemic with a high white cell count and wasn’t absorbing nutrients properly.
‘I’m afraid Ella’s got Crohn’s disease,’ the specialist told us. ‘And she has it throughout her digestive tract.’
She explained it was a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) causing inflammation in the digestive tract, often in the small intestine or colon, leading to symptoms like abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea, fatigue and weight loss
‘But she’s only 10,’ I said, stunned.
‘It can develop at any age,’ the doc replied.
‘What can be done?’ asked Anders.
‘There’s no cure but we should be able to manage it through medication and diet,’ she replied.
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‘She started eating again, sleeping better and growing too.’
Thinking back, we realised Ella had probably had it for years. Even at the age of two, she’d complain of a sore tummy.
They put her on steroids straight away to help reduce her inflammation, then enteral nutrition therapy (ENT), a high calorie liquid only diet to rest her digestive system.
Meant to stay on it six weeks, after a fortnight she said, ‘Mum, I just can’t drink this stuff anymore.’
Instead, she was given six weekly infusions of a chemo drug also used to treat Crohn’s.
‘Mum for the first time, I don’t have a sore tummy,’ Ella beamed.
‘I’m so glad,’ I smiled.
She started eating again, sleeping better and growing too.
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Three years later, Ella’s sister Charlotte, then eight, started going downhill.
Her symptoms were different – she had constipation instead of diarrhoea. She’d had trouble with her bowels since she was little, even landing in hospital at just three.
Now 2024, she started getting frequent stomach aches, mouth ulcers, eczema flare-ups, and that same ‘washed out’ look Ella had before diagnosis.
Tested for Crohn’s, she had it too, although not as severe as Ella’s. Her treatment was different. No infusions, but the same chemo drug as Ella at a half dose.
She also took meds to help her kidneys cope with the medication, iron tablets, and stool softeners.
Today, between the two girls, we practically live at Wesley Hospital. Between colonoscopies, infusions, blood tests and specialist appointments it never stops.
But the girls are so much better that it’s worth every minute.
‘But the girls are so much better that it’s worth every minute’
Ella has shot up to 165cm and, now 13, weighs a less worrying 44kg, while Charlotte, nine, is having much fewer tummy aches and skin rashes and is healthier and happier too.
They’re both still getting tired a lot, but they play soccer and netball and miss a lot less school.
Last year I joined a fundraising walk for Crohn’s & Colitis Australia raising nearly $3000.
More than ‘just a tummy issue’ Crohn’s is a whole-body disease, and it’s lifelong.
I’m so grateful to our doctors for helping our girls.
I hope our story encourages other parents to push hard for answers.
What is Crohn’s?
A chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) Crohn’s disease causes recurring inflammation anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anal canal. It most commonly affects the ileum (the last part of the small intestine), the colon and the area around the anus. Currently, no cure exists. Treatment includes medication, diet changes and surgery.
Symptoms vary depending on which area is affected.
In the small intestine, symptoms present as abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, diarrhoea and weight loss. When the large intestine or rectum is affected, there’s often diarrhoea, pain and bleeding.
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