It's been a long, exhausting few years for Cambridge's Meghan Cymbron.
It all began when the current Western University student started having issues with eating while in Grade 10 at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School.
Then, in 2021, she was hospital bound with pain from what she thought was a pulled groin.
As it turned out, the pain was from an abscess caused by a fistula, a complication that can arise from Crohn's disease.
Crohn's is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Common symptoms include abdominal pain, urgency to use the bathroom, loss of appetite and tiredness.
Cymbron doesn't remember having many of the traditional symptoms, as most of her issues were in relation to the fistula. It could be part of the reason a diagnosis wasn't made earlier.
But after being misdiagnosed in high school, she finally had an answer to what ailed her.
Knowing was a relief but only the beginning of what will be a lifelong journey with the disease, one that's already led to multiple lengthy hospital stays.
"Often times when I'd leave the hospital, I'd still be in treatment for my abscesses," Cymbron said.
"For me, that entailed having a PICC line. It's a central line that goes from your arm to your heart and it allows you to self-administer medications. That was the cycle of my life the past few years."
The physical, mental and emotional toll of the entire process resulted in interruptions to her education and social life.
There were times she wondered if it would ever get better.
Then, last February, the abscess broke through the skin causing a wound that resulted in Cymbron deciding to undergo surgery for a bowel resection.
Fortunately, surgery has helped her get back to a more normal quality of life.
Navigating the disease hasn't just taught Cymbron about herself, it's inspired her to make a difference for other people that are experiencing what she does.
According to Crohn's and Colitis Canada, in 2021 there were 300,000 people living with the disease, a number that's anticipated to reach 403,000, or one in 100 Canadians, by 2030.
Cymbron is the president of the Crohn’s and Colitis Club of Western University and leads conferences, fundraisers and innovative initiatives for the disease, including sending encouragement cards to patients at London Health Sciences Centre hospitals.
For her efforts, she received a $5,000 scholarship through the AbbVie IBD Scholarship Program, in partnership with Crohn's and Colitis Canada, to help with her dual major of microbiology and immunology and computer science.
With her situation having often left her feeling incapable of doing the things she used to, the scholarship serves as reassurance of the kind of impact she can have.
"Honestly, it's meant everything to me," Cymbron said of being a recipient.
"I've worked so hard, especially over the last year since being in remission, to increase my community engagement and work a lot at school. Receiving this scholarship makes me feel proud and recognized for the actions in my community."
Through Western, she recently entered a Microbiology and Immunology Student Association research case study competition where her group analyzed localized immunosupression in the intestine to combat inflammation.
After finding a research article about modified selective organ-targeting (SORT) lipid nanoparticles that could be directed to specific organs in the body, it prompted her group to suggest a similar approach to deal with inflammatory bowel disease.
The project garnered them third place and saw their abstract published in undergraduate research in the Natural and Clinical Science and Technology Journal.
The group has since submitted to the journal with the idea of writing a research protocol for a potential experiment to see if a treatment could be developed in practice, further emphasizing her commitment to fighting the disease.
With her education, along with firsthand experiences with Crohn's and the healthcare system, Cymbron hopes to continue her schooling to study medicine with a focus on gastroenterology.
"I've always had a desire to go into medicine," she said.
"As somebody who's gone through the motions with having a chronic illness and speaking with doctors and medical students and seeing what makes a good doctor and a bad doctor, it's changed my perspective. Going through it yourself, there's a more personal connection."
