Warrior Wednesday Feature: Brigitte -

Let’s welcome this week’s warrior, Brigitte!

Hello! My name is Brigitte Morris and I was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada. I now live in California where the weather is perfect every day!

I have Crohn’s Disease and my journey of getting diagnosed was full of ups and downs. I was originally diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at the age of 18. I tried everything you can think of to get me into remission, from all sorts of medication, to diet changes, to acupuncture and other holistic methods and even flying in experimental drugs from Germany. I had a great team of Specialists looking after me. The last resort was getting a total colectomy and ileostomy in preparation for my J-Pouch, which I still have to this day. A couple years after my J-Pouch surgery, I started getting symptoms again, and that’s when they re-diagnosed me with Crohn’s Disease. I’ll always remember that day because it was my birthday. A little bitter sweet. I was told the reason my case was tricky was because all my symptoms pointed to UC but I would react to medication like I had Crohn’s.

My life changed completely as soon as my symptoms first started to surface, I didn’t need to be diagnosed to know something was not right with me. The person this disease had turned me into before my surgery was the complete opposite of who I was right before my first symptoms started. I was a super active person (played on the High School Volley-Ball team and Basketball team), did Taekwon-Do, I had been accepted into my first-choice study program at the University of Ottawa, things were looking great. Right before my surgery, I was sleeping 18h-20h a day because I was so tired, numb from medications and it also was a way to not feel the pain from my disease. The surgery, though I didn’t want it (mainly because I was afraid of getting it), saved my life. Now my life is great, I mean compared to what it was before. I still suffer from fistulas and occasional partial intestinal blockages, but other than that, I am able to do things and do things that I want.

The surgery gave me a second chance at life, so I’m making sure I take full advantage of it. I am now an entrepreneur; owner and head instructor with my husband of a Taekwon-Do School in San Jose, CA. I am the owner of Mightyfist, a martial arts brand and Mighty a sportswear brand, two international brands that have given me the opportunity to travel the world. I am a member of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) Women’s Committee where I work with incredible and inspiring women from around the world, where I get to play an important role to empower and inspire all women in ITF Taekwon-Do. I also gathered my courage and finally opened up about my Crohn’s journey by starting a YouTube channel in hopes that I can help others like me. I started modeling and have been published over 20 times, and I also wrote a book BOSS LADY BRIGITTE talking about moments in my life where I learned important lessons that led me to the person I am today. My book is meant to be positive, inspiring and empowering for readers, hoping I can help anyone going through similar situations. And I made sure to talk about my Crohn’s in my book because, through it all, I know dealing with my disease, and having gone through what I have, has made me a stronger person, and has helped me understand myself on a deeper level. I think what really saved me was my attitude towards everything that was happening, and the best way I can explain it is with this quote I found: “Staying positive doesn’t mean you are happy all the time, it means you know better days are to come.” When you’re in a flare up or in pain, remember that moment will pass leading to another moment. Life is made up of multiple moments, good ones and bad ones, so when things aren’t going so great, remember that better moments are on their way. If I can leave you with another piece of advice that took me some time to figure out and accept, is to be patient with yourself. I easily get caught up in my work life and personal life staying really busy so when I get sick, I get frustrated and I always catch myself saying “I don’t have time to get sick”. We are always more patient when it comes to others but so hard on ourselves when it happens to us. It’s ok to stop sometimes.