She’s a ball of energy and a sweet little chatter box, wise beyond her years. Seven-year-old Brooke, of Missouri, was diagnosed seven months ago with Crohn’s disease. She spiked a fever on New Year’s Eve 2017 that lasted for eight days, and from that point forward, life was never the same.

I had a chance to get dinner with Brooke and her mom, Tara, this past week. I couldn’t help but look at this little girl in awe. Despite already being hospitalized three times since March and starting on a biologic drug in August, it was as if she has dealt with the disease her entire life. She talked candidly about all the pokes of the needles and how she tells all the nurses they are her friend. She raved about the tater tots and pancakes at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. And laughed about how annoying it is when the lights go on in your hospital room in the middle of the night. She was more like a teenager, than a little girl.

Here’s how her Crohn’s diagnosis came about. After ruling out the flu, mono, strep and a UTI, doctors discovered she was anemic. The pattern of fevers continued for two months. Still no answers. As time passed, Brooke’s pediatrician started considering a GI issue. After an endoscopy and colonoscopy, Brooke and her family were told she had Crohn’s disease on March 2, 2018. In a matter of months, she went from being an outgoing, energetic kid to a hospital patient on a laundry list of medications. She developed her first fistula while on methotrexate and was on prednisone for more than three months.

Dealing with the diagnosis

Fast forward to this past summer and this sweet little girl received her first Remicade infusion four days before she started first grade. Brooke is the first person in her family to receive an IBD diagnosis. Her mom, Tara, says these past months have been the hardest she’s ever endured. Her mind races with the what ifs, as she navigates her family’s new normal.

“Were there signs we should’ve seen sooner? Did we do something to cause this? Were we making the right decisions for her treatment and care? Brooke has a HUGE personality. When she was first sick, and before her diagnosis, she just stopped talking. She would lie on the couch for hours and hours every day. This was not my Brooke. She normally can’t sit still for more than a few minutes! I was SO scared because I knew something wasn’t right. Watching her in pain and miserable for two months while we waited on this diagnosis was miserable. You just feel helpless…all we could do was love her and pray,” said Tara.

Juggling life and family from the hospital

Tara and her family have encountered many challenges along the way. Between the costs of the medications, the hospital stays, all the tests and trying to juggle work. To say it’s been a lot, is an understatement. Tara’s husband, Josh, works from home which helps, but Tara is a preschool special-education teacher. She was out of paid sick days by the end of January of this year. Although both employers have been understanding of Brooke’s health situation, the family has taken a big hit financially.

“When you’re going through this, you are spread so thin and it’s difficult to ask for help. We have another daughter, Haley, who is 10. Of course, when Brooke was in the hospital, either Josh or I were with her every minute. We live over an hour from Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, so it wasn’t possible to pop up for a quick visit. It was also hard for us to ask for support. We needed help mentally, financially, and logistically with many things. We have an AMAZING support system of family and friends who have helped us throughout this process.”

An advocate from the start

Brooke has been a true IBD warrior every step of the way. She doesn’t even cry anymore when she gets her IV. Brooke openly communicates about her diagnosis and is able to tell you which foods trigger symptoms, and which are safe for her to eat. She explained to me how she’ll have one strawberry at lunch at school, if it doesn’t “hurt her tummy” she has two strawberries the next day, and three the day after that. This little girl just gets it. Tara says in just a few short months, Brooke has already become a very good advocate for herself.

“Watching my baby go through this has changed me forever. Although I know she doesn’t know yet, what it really means to have Crohn’s, I am always so amazed by her strength. She talks about it very ‘matter-of-factly’. It doesn’t define her. I hope and pray constantly that anything that I encounter, I can deal with, the way she has dealt with this. It’s made our family stronger by seeing that we can face this together.”

A GoFundMe page has been created for Brooke and her family. Click here to submit a donation, every dollar helps!