JFS pupil launches social media push to raise awareness of ‘invisible’ condition

A 16-year-old JFS pupil diagnosed with ulcerative colitis earlier this year, has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the “invisible condition”, which affects over 300,000 people in the UK.

Inspiring Ollie Kaye has lived with a stoma bag for several weeks after undergoing surgery at St. Mark’s Hospital Foundation last month to remove his colon, following his diagnosis in January.

“Obviously, I was so ill all these months,” he said. “I felt strange physically, emotionally, mentally, and I wasn’t really doing anything productive. I was just stuck in bed.”

But the teenager from north west London, who has begun to feel “better and healthier” in the wake of his surgery and wants “to get involved in society”, hopes telling his story will raise awareness of invisible conditions like his.

He was inspired to launch the Kidwithabag Facebook and Instagram pages by the testimonies of social media influencers with the condition, which were a source of comfort ahead of his surgery and offered a patient’s perspective.

Reactions to the new social media accounts have been “amazing” and defied expectations. “It’s only been a week and the support has been out of the scale that I expected,” he said.

The futsal enthusiast, who won a gold medal at the European Maccabi Games 2019, hopes to be back on the court soon.

“At the moment I am still recovering but in a couple of months, I should be able to get back in the sport, with the permission from my IBD [inflammatory bowel disease] nurse and the doctor’s green-light for me to get back into school,” he said.

“I think I’ll have to train hard, much harder than everyone else because I’ve been set back. I’ve lost a lot of weight, muscle strength, technique,” he added.