BY OLIVIA TOBIN

Young mum's 'weight loss' was actually life-threatening illness

Joy knew something was wrong when she started going to the toilet 25 times a day

A teenager who suddenly started losing weight was diagnosed with a life threatening illness that left her needing emergency surgery.

Joy McCabe first started experiencing symptoms when she was just 18 .

The Crosby trainee fashion buyer was about to move in with her boyfriend and start a new job, when she started noticing differences in her body.

Joy said: "It started in about November 2017 and I started getting symptoms like blood when I was going to the toilet.

"And I was needing to go to the toilet more frequently, but obviously it was something I really didn't want to go to the doctors about.

"I put it off and put it off until I started getting really poorly and losing weight. Then I thought 'No, I really do need to see a doctor about it'."

Joy said her conditions worsened and she was suffering from stomach cramps, diarrhoea, tiredness and was going to the toilet up to 25 times a day.

Worried by her symptoms, Joy booked a GP appointment to talk about her extreme fatigue and weight loss totalling around a stone.

While speaking to her doctor though, Joy said she "chickened out" and wasn't completely honest with the doctor and instead asked for a routine prescription.

But she made an emergency appointment for the day after and returned.

She said: "I was really fortunate and he was able to give me an inkling that it was something really serious. I've heard stories before where people are told it's just IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or just being told to watch what they eat.

"But he sent me to see a specialist in the Royal and he said you look really poorly, I'm going to bring you in tomorrow. I had an emergency colonoscopy and I was diagnosed with Colitis."

Colitis refers to inflammation of the inner lining of the colon, and can be caused by a number of factors.

Joy added: "I turned 19 as I got my diagnosis. I think because you think you're young you think you're perfectly healthy and it's going to go away by itself.

"It was really scary. I think when you hear the word 'chronic', you just think that's going to be you for the rest of your life. You automatically assume you're going to be as poorly as you are in that moment forever.

"I think it's quite hard to see past it."

After being diagnosed, Joy was given a range of medication, including steroids with harsh side-effects, to try and treat the condition.

Two weeks after the diagnosis she also found out she was expecting her son, Frankie.

She said: "I think it was about two days where I had to wait to see if it would be safe to be on the steroids while I was pregnant, and those two days felt like a year.

"It's a really strange situation because if you were planning to have a baby, you'd say I need to plan to come off this medication, or this medication.

"But because it was all happening at once, it was really overwhelming.

"It was scary. Even though the doctors were saying I was fine to be on the medication while I was pregnant, I was still high risk."

Now aged 22 and a mum to a beautiful two-year-old son, Joy wants to be a voice and an inspiration for other people facing the same struggles she did.

Using her platform on social media to spread body-positive messages, the mum-of-one has also modelled in an empowerment campaign by online fashion brand, Misguided.

Featuring in a non airbrushed photoshoot alongside other inspirational women, Joy said she's committed to spreading information about her condition so that "there's someone there for people to see who is like them".

Joy had a year off on maternity leave after welcoming baby Frankie, but said she was very ill.

She said: "I couldn't leave the bathroom, I was going to the toilet 30 times a day and on top of that I was throwing up. I lost about three stone at that point. It was a tough time."

After Frankie's first birthday, Joy said she was "quite poorly" and felt as though she had tried every medication she could, and she made the decision to opt for surgery.

She said: "I wanted to be able to go out and do things with him. I felt like I'd been in my own little lockdown for a year. I had to put my career on hold and being a proper mum on hold."

Chronicling her life as a new mum and as a young woman living with an ileostomy bag, Joy has attracted thousands of followers with her frank and inspirational content.

She said: "When I was younger, the first thing I did as a young person was Google [my condition]. And when you get on to Google, the first thing you see when you type in 'blood in your poo' is 'cancer'.

"It's so frightening. So to be able to go on to a platform like Instagram where most of the young people are going to go, and search for hashtags, there's someone there for them to see who is like themselves. Because that's what I didn't have when I was searching.

"It can be somewhere where someone can go and see that you can live a normal-ish life with a condition like that, or with an ileostomy bag or with medication.

"Whether it's medication or surgery, I've done both and can talk about it. Whereas if you go on Google you can just hear the horror stories."

  Joy's Instagram page can be found here.

Since being diagnosed with the chronic autoimmune disease Joy has also set up her own clothing brand, with a portion of profits going to Crohn's Colitis UK.

Joy recently featured in a Misguided campaign celebrating diversity, which she admitted was "terrifying".

Their new shapewear collection is modelled by diverse, empowering and inclusive models in partnership with the charity, Models of Diversity.

Angel, Founder of Models of Diversity said: “Many brands talk about change, few follow through.

"Misguided absolutely blew us away with their commitment to inclusion and diversity in this campaign.

"We were delighted that amongst their gorgeous and diverse cast they included seven very beautiful but very different models from MOD - the results are amazing. It is a pleasure to be associated with a brand so determined to be on the right side of change”

Missguided Founder and CEO Nitin Passi stated: "Empowerment is at the heart of what we stand for and while we’re proud of that, it has to be for everyone.

"This campaign powerfully says who we are and also shows what we aspire to be, not only opening a window into the breadth of what we offer but also now better covering the skin tones that match the diversity of our customers.”