A mum who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease aged 13 and had to have her colon removed eleven years later as it became pre-cancerous, giving her a “second chance at life”, is now an influencer bearing all to show it is possible to “live a beautiful, normal, happy life” with a stoma bag. Meghan Cary Brown, 31, a stay-at-home mum and content creator, from Charlottesville, Virginia, in the US, spent most of her teenage years in “so much pain” and had to “deal with bullying as well as being sick”. At 24, the mum of two, to Cora, three, and 23-month-old Colin, was told her colon was precancerous, causing her to “collapse on the floor crying”, just eight months after she had married Thomas Brown, now 31, a project manager. Meghan was in a “very dark place” and was “overcome with sadness” at the thought of getting cancer, so with some encouragement from her doctor, had her colon removed and had a stoma bag fitted. One year later she created an Instagram page, and more recently a TikTok, to share her story and raise awareness about life with a stoma bag with thousands of followers. Her postings include an open discussion of her experience, sharing bikini pictures and openly explaining she has worn “beautiful lacy wraps” for stoma bags in intimate moments with her partner, and it has “served as a healing mechanism” to make her realise she needs to “stop worrying so much” about the opinions of others. “I started posting as I wanted people to see that you can live this beautiful, normal, happy life with an ostomy bag, and when I was researching it I couldn’t see anyone my age talking about it,” she told PA Real Life “But the other reason was that it almost served as a healing mechanism for me – I think it was really powerful to just put myself out there on the internet. “Like, this year at the beach for the first time I wore a bikini with my bag on show and it felt amazing – I just thought life is too short.” After Meghan was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease she had to be home-schooled for a year because she “could not even get out of bed”. Meghan said: “My parents would find me lying on the bathroom floor because I could not get up and walk to the bed, I was in so much pain, and I had so much fatigue. “But it was also hard because since I was home-schooled, we didn’t have social media or anything, so no-one knew where I was, and there were lots of rumours spread about me – I had to deal with bullying as well as being sick.” Meghan was put on lots of different medications and had to deal with their side effects, such as giving her a “big moon face” as she retained water. She said: “I can remember having to get clothes three times my size and just breaking down crying. “That’s really difficult when you’re a teenage girl.” One year later Meghan was “in remission” for Crohn’s and was able to return to school. She continued taking “maintenance medication” which kept her symptoms at bay but, when she was in her first year of university, she began getting sick again. She explained: “I fell out of remission and it turned out I formed antibodies towards the drug I was taking so it was no longer working. “I had to inject myself at home while in college so it was really difficult.” Meghan also had to have regular hospital visits and aged 24, eight months after getting married, a routine colonoscopy showed that her colon was pre-cancerous. She said: “When they told me I had high-grade dysplasia deep within the tissue of my colon, and it was pre-cancerous, I was heartbroken. “I can remember standing in the kitchen when my doctor told me this over the phone, and it made me collapse on the floor crying because when you hear that word, cancerous, all you can think is that you’re going to die. “It was terrifying.” At the follow-up appointment Meghan was told she could have routine checks to make sure the cancer was not progressing or have her colon removed. She said: “I was adamant that I wasn’t going to have my colon removed – I thought my life would be over if I had that done. “I was in a very dark place and I was overcome with sadness. “But when I told my doctor my decision, he explained that I could have it removed now, or in a few years’ time I could be a mum with young children and have cancer. “That just put things into perspective for me – it made me realise it’s not just about me, so I decided to have it removed.” From that moment on, Meghan decided to live her life to the full. She said: “I decided I was going to look at this as my second chance at life – I had already been incredibly sick for 10 years – I told myself I was going to look at this as a positive thing. “Before, there were so many things I couldn’t do, like I had so much anxiety riding in a car because I couldn’t control my bowels and I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a bathroom.” It took Meghan a few months to get used to having a stoma bag, and she explained what it is like day-to-day: “I change the whole system appliance every three to four days, and throughout the day I have no feeling. “I don’t have the urge to go to the bathroom, it just happens. “Throughout the day I’ll just go to the bathroom and empty my bag – I do this around six to eight times a day.” Meghan also had to adjust to having a stoma bag while being intimate with her husband. She said: “I wore beautiful lacy wraps made for people with bags, with a pocket to tuck it in, as it helped my body image because I felt pretty. “But honestly, now I’ve had my ostomy bag for almost seven years, we’re so comfortable with one another – if anything ever happens during intimacy, we just can laugh it off and move on.” One year after having her bag fitted she decided to create an Instagram account to share her story, where she now has more than 14,100 followers, and a further 19,400 followers on TikTok. Meghan said: “It really puts life into perspective and really made me realise life is so short. “I need to stop worrying so much about the opinions of others, or what other people are going to think – making my Instagram account made me realise this too. “I’m just so happy to be happy and healthy.” Read More Charlotte Dawson gives birth to her and Matt Sarsfield’s ‘rainbow baby’ How to sleep during hot weather, according to experts How to keep your pet safe and healthy during a heatwave Charlotte Dawson gives birth to her and Matt Sarsfield’s ‘rainbow baby’ How to sleep during hot weather, according to experts How to keep your pet safe and healthy during a heatwave

A guest who checked into a five-star Delhi hotel for a single night stayed almost two years before

Adani Green Energy Ltd., the renewables arm of Gautam Adani’s Indian coal-to-ports conglomerate, reported first-quarter profit rose about

A huge explosion followed by a large blaze occurred early on Thursday morning at a warehouse in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, according to Reuters and AFP news agencies, citing local media reports.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she’s eager to build on recent improvements in US-China relations as finance

President Joe Biden is wrapping up a visit to Vietnam by calling on the two countries to improve their collaboration

Before listing your Beanie Babies on eBay, it helps to know if they're actually valuable. An antiques appraiser shared her tips for making the most money from your collection.

At Logan Roy's funeral, Kendall, Shiv, Roman and Connor try their best to grieve for their father but came in short

By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in which

A ‘talking’ dog who can express their feelings and needs by pushing buttons has gone viral on TikTok – but users are worried she may be “too intelligent”. Three-year-old, red fox Labrador Retriever, Copper uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate with its owner, Tia Herrell, 52. The buttons cover everything from wanting to eat, drink, play, go to the toilet, and even help Copper express feelings, such as worry. In a video that has gone viral on TikTok with 19 million views, Copper uses her buttons to show she is concerned moments after Tia was coughing. The clip shows Copper use a button which shouts ‘Worried’, to which Tia uses a button that says ‘Why’. Clever Copper moves to another button and says ‘Mommy’. Tia says: “You’re worried about Mommy?’ and taps the buttons for ‘Why? Worried. Mommy.’ Copper repeatedly clicks a button that says ‘Sound’ – and Tia immediately puts two and two together that she is concerned by her coughing. @thechattylab Want stranger? I think Copper wanted to be the center of attention. #talkingdogsoftiktok #dogtok She quickly taps the button for ‘Ouch’, but assures Copper she is fine. Tia has been teaching Copper how to communicate after reading about a speech-language pathologist using a similar method with her pet. She ordered some recordable buttons online and built the talking board. “Copper started with buttons when she was four months old and it really helped her with potty training,” Tia, a fellow speech-language pathologist from California, US, told NeedToKnow.co.uk. “She took to it very quickly and started using the buttons the first week. “Since then she has learned to use the buttons to request different toys, ask where family members are, ask for a treat, tell how she's feeling, tell someone if she's worried, ask to go for a ride, ask where her human sister Savannah is, and more. “It's been really fun and surprising to see Copper's personality change over time. “When she was younger, she talked about her toys and playing a lot of the time. Now she talks way more about her family and how she feels. “I think that Copper is very emotional and loves her family immensely. “I would say that Copper is extremely emotionally intelligent. “She's able to identify her own emotions and sometimes others’ emotions.” @thechattylab When you gotta go, you gotta go! #dogtok #smartdog #talkingdogsoftiktok Over two million people liked the video, taking to the comments section to share their thoughts – with some dubbing Copper the “Einstein of dogs” and others expressing concern over her skills. One user commented: “It's getting too intelligent.” “HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, I MADE ME SIT UP IN MY BED,” another person said. “This is so wild,” another user agreed. Someone else said: “Now that is pure love.” “I’d be getting that cough checked.. that fur baby looks like he’s lost a best friend. But seriously, this is so sweet & hope ur 100% okay!” said another viewer. [sic] “Ok that’s the Einstein of dogs right there lol,” added one fan. Someone else commented: “If this is not the sweetest thing.” “The fact that dogs can understand the meaning and concept of worry is what surprises me,” said another user. “Their so much smarter then we realize,” another person added. [sic] Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

In 1923, Walt Disney left his failing animation company called Laugh-O-gram Films and used his last $40 to

Sean “Diddy” Combs is spearheading a new online marketplace called Empower Global that will specifically feature Black-owned businesses