One man with Crohn's disease shared a striking photo to show that those with conspicuous medical issues should stay strong and embrace who they are.
Stephen Holman, who lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, recently took to Facebook and posted a photo of himself proudly displaying his surgery scars, ostomy bag (in which stool collects) and PICC line (which helps pump nutrients and calories into his body).
The 27-year-old just hit the two-year anniversary of his ostomy surgery and used the occasion to share an important point.
"My gadgets certainly weren't part of my lifetime plan but I'm appreciative of the fact that I’m able to exist outside of a hospital because of them," he wrote in the post. "I’m concentrating on getting past how they make me look or cause people to react toward me ... And life is so much more worth living when you're not always ashamed of, or trying to hide, the equipment that's keeping you alive."
Holman told The Huffington Post that with the post, he hopes to give others in similar situations an extra boost of confidence.
"I know what it's like to feel less than human because of the medical equipment that I’ve needed to stay alive and live my life," he explained. "I was hoping anybody with any type of disease or using any type of equipment (breathing machines, wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, etc.) would be able to relate to this and not feel any less human just because they need some extra "gadgets" in their lives."
The 27-year-old explained in his post that he's had seven different Crohn's-related surgeries and said that he was initially self-conscious.
"I used to refrain from bringing up what's hiding under my shirt because most people don't even know what I mean when I say 'ostomy' and internal plumbing issues are still sometimes (but shouldn't be) taboo topics," he said.
With an ostomy bag and visible PICC line, he said that building the confidence to talk about his condition hasn't always been easy -- it's been a learning process.
"The stares, remarks, and questions I get from curious folk about both medical devices don't bother me anymore but it definitely took a while for me to get comfortable talking about the baggage (get it?!) I have with my body."
He's come a long way and with this post, he's already moved others who are dealing with medical conditions in some way.
"One lady wrote that my post gave her hope and inspiration for raising her small child with Crohn’s Disease," Holman told HuffPost. "Another comment said that my post made a lady feel so much less self-conscious of having to have her oxygen tank with her 24/7 because of COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]."
Ultimately, Holman hopes that his post can open up a conversation about inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and get the public to become more knowledgeable of what their peers may be going through.
"I wanted to give people a reason to do a little bit of research on inflammatory bowel diseases -- I think a lot of people think that ... means that a person just has stomach aches and diarrhea a lot... but there's so much more to it."