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FAP Survivor of the Month

Would you like to share your life story as a FAP survivor of the month? Email Elizabeth with your story and tell her what you want to do with it. Just click on the baby hippo to the right.

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Previous celebrated FAP survivors:



	Hi! My name is Katie O�Neil. I am 16 years old and live in Clarkston, Washington. I am a junior at Clarkston High School. FAP has always ran in our family, my Dad�s dad died from colon cancer. They caught it too late. My dad was diagnosed with FAP when he was in his late teens. He now has an Ileostomy. I was first diagnosed with FAP in November of 2000 I was also 16 at the time. My parents had always told me and my older brother that when we were about 18 we would have to get checked for that. My brother had his test and it came back negative. I had my test done when I was 15 because I was noticing some blood in my stools. The results came back and I had 100�s of polyps. They said that I had it since I was a little girl. I think the information I had available was really good. The Internet was a big help. My mom was constantly on the computer looking up information. But in retrospect I wish that I would have been more aware of this disease and done more research on it. After doing some research I found out that some signs of FAP is a freckle behind the eye and a non-permanent tooth under a baby tooth. I had both of these. My surgeon was very helpful. He sat down with us and showed us pictures and a movie. He was very informative. At that meeting we set a for sure date for my surgery. I had it done June 15th 2001 I was 16 years old. When my parents found out I had FAP, they were struck pretty hard. My mom was very scared. It was more difficult for my mom than my dad, because he has been through it all before. But they handled it quite well. And It also hit my boyfriend quite hard also. He thought I was going to change quite dramatically. But he was great through it all. He was also a great shoulder to cry on. When I found out about this I wasn�t quite sure what to think. But I was also still sedated from the colonoscopy( I thought �Oh now can I have some more sleepy stuff. Ha! Ha!�). So I wasn�t quite sure what to think, then when I got home my family was talking about it and I then realized what was happening. I started crying, but I had much support through it all. I had to keep myself from looking at it negatively. I looked at it as a great way to loose weight. That kept me from getting nervous about it. The thing that scared me most about the surgery was the temporary ileostomy. I was not sure that I could handle having an Ileostomy at the age of 16, I used to say I would rather die then having that thing on me. But now that I look back at it, it was never that bad (so don�t ever think that anyone!!!!!). I think the worst part of the surgery is the preparation medicine, �Go Lightly,� that you have to drink a gallon of. Yeah right. We mixed that with everything possible. I barely drank half of that. So in the morning we were all freaking out. We called the hospital and went in about 2 hours earlier to make sure it was all okay. It all turned out to be okay. My surgery lasted about 5 1/2 hours. My small intestine was almost too short, they had to spend an extra hour or so doing "stretching" exercise to make it long enough. The other complication was my blood vessels which too light to see, so they had a black light shining in there to make it easier to see them. I had my surgery done all in one step. My recovery went really well. I think the nurses and doctors and horrid for trying to make you get up and walk around the day after surgery!! ? After having my surgery I feel great. I don�t get tired as easily. I am now back to all my normal activities. I have even picked up snowboarding. All in all, I am very glad that I had this surgery done. My advice to younger people diagnosed with FAP never loose faith and know that in the end everything is okay. If anyone has questions feel free to e-mail me anytime! Roxygirl6959@hotmail.com .

	Hi, my name is Jane and I have FAP. I was diagnosed in July of 1991, at the age of 25, and my hometown doctor, after seeing multiple polyps all throughout my colon, came and told me that he had scheduled me for a colostomy bag the very next morning. I packed my bags and went for a second opinion and then a third. My third opinion came from Dr. Harvey Sugerman at the Medical College of Virginia. He gave me the option of having an ileo-anal anastamosis (j-ouch). After careful consideration, and talking to many people who had already had the surgery, I opted to have it done. I had my surgery on February 12, 1992. I have been very fortunate in that I have had no problems or complications with the pouch. I was told that I may not be able to have children after having this surgery for varied reasons. In September of 92, six months after surgery, I found out that I was pregnant. I was ecstatic and nervous. I had not been taking any meds and was doing great, no accidents and no problems with any foods. How would the "new" me handle being pregnant especially so soon after surgery? My local doctors sent me to the University of Viginia Hospital in Charlottesville because they too were a little nervous. I went to the doctor every 3-4 weeks for the first five months, once a month for the sixth and seventh, and the ALL the time for the last two months. I had no problems at all until the end of the pregnancy when I was huge and that was only a small problem. I started having little accidents occasionally. I went two weeks over and finally on May 21, 1993 I gave birth to Amy Elizabeth who weighed in at 7.1 and was 19 3/4" long. I was induced because I would not go into labor on my own. I chose to go all natural and after they gave me a shot of muscle relaxer in the rear (so that I would loosen up enough to be able to have her--was determined not to have an accident during labor!!) I relaxed enough to have her. Your memory gets a little fuzzy after some years pass by but I would say that I was in hard labor from 1:00pm until 5:30pm and then pushed for two hours before Amy was born. The pushing is what I was afraid of. I was so afraid that something would tear or 'come loose' especially since my surgery had been so recent. Nothing happened!!! In fact everything went so well that on July 24, 1995 I had Luke Anthony (8.7lb & 19 1/2") and more recently I gave birth to Clay Andrew (9.2lb & 21 1/2") on January 3, 2000. Of course I am in constant prayer that I have not passed FAP on to any of my children but at least I do know that they can live a productive, normal life if they do have it. We know what can be done for us now, imagine what they will be able to do in 10 or 15 years!!!! If anyone has any questions or would just like to talk my email is alcjane@aol.com and I am also on icq #73164421. Good Health and Healing Prayers, Jane

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