Former Rose of Tralee Elysha Brennan opens up about battle with serious illness

"Now U C me"

The 2015 Rose of Tralee, Elysha Brennan, has revealed that she is battling a serious illness. The Meath native was previously diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 19. Now at the age of 23, she faces another serious illness, Ulcerative Colitis. She describes it as, "an autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease in which your own immune cells attack the cells in your colon". She opened up about her illness in a recent blog post where she explains that she was diagnosed with the illness in June and it wasn't until very recently that the symptoms became so bad that she had to be admitted to hospital for eight days. She said that the symptoms were, "severe crippling tummy pain, running to the loo one too many times a day to mention, losing blood, feeling tired & lack of interest or wanting to eat." Elysha went through a series of different tests including constant blood tests, blood gas analysis, X-rays, ultra sounds, Echos, ECGs, Scopes, antibiotics and steroids. Eventually, between herself, her UC consultant and her oncologist they decided to start a biological drug called "Vedoluzimab" which avoided the need for Elysha to have surgery on her colon. Elysha says the drug is, "a relatively new “wonder” drug and basically it’s action is to dampen down your overactive immune cell response to all your poor little colon cells that are getting absolutely battered." Speaking about how she feels she said:

"How do I feel now? Happy & thankful to be home. Reminded of the value of the simple things in life like seeing your dog and sleeping in your own bed. Determined to tackle this head on. After missing so much teaching in college & study time I’m hoping to still sit and pass my exams coming up. Grateful to my INCREDIBLE family, boyfriend and best friends who were by my side throughout the whole week for all the ups & downs, twists & turns… And by god there were many!"

She continues:

"I have had a lot of time to reflect this week & being 100% honest with you, I have had those moments of “why me”. Why do I have to go through this? How is this fair? Have I not fought my battle & carried my cross? After my little wobbly & feeling a tad sorry for myself, the fighting spirit that was embedded & instilled in me at 19 kicked in. It was 4 years ago when I discovered what it means to dig deep, gather your inner strength & fight like hell. I refuse to let circumstances define me or who I am in this world. I have far too many things to do, places to see & experiences to have to let this to stop me. I believe with all my heart that every experience (good & bad) holds within it a blessing, room for learning & growth."

When Elysha was first diagnosed with cancer she made a bucket list which she has successfully completed. Now, this time around, she has created a whole new bucket list and says she will use this experience "to spread some goodness and share a positive message about being a young person and dealing with illness, whether it be mental, physical or emotional." You can read Elysha's full post here.