Christensen 1

Ryan Christensen
English 1101
Melina Probst-Martin
2/20/2016
While we as humans are physically similar each of us has different traits. There
are factors each of us experience which define the make up of who we are. Geography,
race, economic standing and even the time period in which one lives forms who we are as
individuals. In some cases disease plays a large role in shaping the make up of a person.
My educational make up has been dramatically affected by Crohns Disease. It controls
how I feel both physically and mentally and it effects how I live my life on a daily basis.
I guess I should start from the beginning. I was an average kid getting a normal
education. I started out at a private all day pre-school and kindergarten called Kinder
Castle since my elementary school didnt have all day pre-school and kindergarten. My
parents tell me how excited I was when we did something at pre-school like parents night
or our Christmas show. I remember really liking my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Smith.
She even put up with me being a bit high energy all the time.
From 1st 7th grade I attended St. Pius in Lombard. Again I was just the average
kid attending school everyday and I loved all the teachers I had while I was there. My
parents did notice that in the summer between 7th and 8th grade that I wasnt eating and
started losing weight.
I missed a lot of school in 8th grade. Sometimes just days and other times weeks.
I got diagnosed with Crohns disease. After I got diagnosed I was never feeling well so I
never wanted to go. My Principle at the time, Mr. Flaherty, told me This isnt Harvard
and we will help you get through this. All the teachers I had helped me get to the end of
the year and graduated to move onto high school. After 8th grade ended we realized I had
missed about 70% of the school year.

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In spring of 2011, towards the end of 8th grade, I started Remicade infusions.
Remicade is an immunosuppressant. Its main function is to suppress immune system
response. It is used to treat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and
ulcerative colitis. Remicade was sort of a miracle drug for me. I started feeling better,
was able to attend more school and at times was able to catch up on my work. I almost
started feeling normal.
Freshman year of high school was basically a normal year for me. I played on the
golf team and went to most of the football games. I kept up with my friends and most
importantly was able to keep up with my school work. First semester of sophomore year
was the same as freshman year, going to the football games and playing on the golf team
for the second year in a row. Second semester was a different story. All of a sudden, I
started not feeling well again and would miss a couple weeks at a time. I was still able to
make it through to the end of the year.
Junior year, the train derailed. I made it the first two days of school and then
ended up missing the next week with a flare up even though I was still on Remicade. My
doctor did not have a good answer as to why this happened. This is where the vicious
cycle began. There was one point during junior year where I had missed three weeks in a
row and really fell behind. One important thing to point out is that most of the work, for
all my classes, was done in class. Even though I was finishing the homework I missed, I
was still missing the in class lessons, and I also had to get the new work done. That put a
lot of stress on me and just made the Crohns flare ups worse, and then I would miss even
more school.
We tried many different options for me to continue at my high school. The first
option was homebound tutoring. That didnt work because the homebound tutors were

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all stay at home moms that had limited availability, could only help with homework not
the lessons, and they were all English majors. They could not help with other subjects.
After the homebound tutoring we tried a work at your own pace program called
the Achieve Program. I was there for a couple days and felt like I didnt belong there.
Thats when my parents pulled me out of high school. We found it hard to believe that
my high school did not have a way to help a student like me. My counselor even
suggested having a truancy officer call me to scare me in to going to school. They
were treating my condition as something other than a medical issue.
The next thing we tried was online school from My American High School. This
worked for about two weeks. I was 15 at the time trying to make the online school work,
but I needed more structure. I missed having in-person teachers. I would feel distracted
and end up doing something else other than school work. YouTube equals the ultimate
distraction.
We decided to stop the online school and start the process of getting my GED at
COD. My best friend earned his GED the year before, and we got some of the
information from him about the program. I started the GED program the following
August. At that time I would have been a senior in high school. My goal was to earn my
GED and be able to start college at the same time I would have if I had graduated high
school. I had to attend and pass two adult education classes before I could start the GED
classes. I passed those and started the GED classes in February 2015.
I really liked the GED classes I was taking even though they were a bit harder
than the classes my friend had taken. I did well in the english/reading class and I had to
focus and study hard with the math class. Much of the math I remembered from high

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school so that helped. I was able to earn my GED in one semester and received my
certificate in April 2015. I was very proud of myself for earning my GED.
I feel that having Crohns Disease has been a huge negative in my education so
far. I had to struggle through the end of middle school and missed out on a lot of fun 8th
grade activities. Sophomore year ended on a bad note as my symptoms started coming
back. Junior year was a complete disaster and I left high school in December. Again I
missed out on so many important milestones friendships, dances, sporting events, clubs,
social activities and graduation. There were even some kids who thought I had merely
switched lunch periods when they hadnt seen me for awhile. They had no idea I wasnt
even there every day. I learned that many of my so called friends were caught up in
their own lives and had no idea what was going on in my life. My parents often tell me
that when I am older these things wont be as important to me, but they were important to
me at the time.
Since 8th grade, Crohns disease has been the major negative effect on my
education. However, I have tried working through the challenges and used alternative
education methods. I compare it to an army pushing forward to reach a goal and then
having to fall back, regroup and try a different tactic. Its difficult not to let a chronic
illness negatively affect your life. How you deal with the disease on a daily basis is the
true defining factor of ones character. No matter the obstacles or the impacts, we each
have some control as to who we are. I refuse to let Crohns change my life or allow me
to reach my educational goal, graduating with a degree in history.