Humans of St. Norbert:

“I struggle with several different chronic illnesses. The one that I've struggled with the most symptom-wise and has affected me physically is gastroparesis. It basically means that my stomach is paralyzed. So it makes it really difficult for me to eat because I have a lot of pain when I eat. I also get very nauseous and get heartburn all the time. Because my stomach is the one organ that doesn't like processing the way it should, it ends up leading to a bunch of other issues. [During my senior year of high school,] it brought on superior mesenteric artery syndrome so basically my intestines were being crushed by my artery. This made the pain for me a lot worse and made it even harder for me to eat.

I had a nasal feeding tube for three months. It went past my stomach into the second part of the intestine called the jejunum. The whole time I had it, I was not allowed to eat or drink or anything. It was really to give that organ a break and slow down the progression of the gastroparesis so that it could rebuild that necessary tissue. It was very weird [having the feeding tube] because you didn’t necessarily feel hungry. You were still being fed and getting all of the nutrients you needed, but mentally you’d see food or even just someone sipping tea and you’d be like, ‘Wow, I want that.’ The one thing I was allowed to do when I had my feeding tube was I could chew gum. My mom was super kind and found these gourmet flavored gums. There were flavors like a fruit punch, cotton candy, cake and cupcake so at least I could pretend that I was eating something.

In college when something tough comes up, you first are like, “How am I going to face this? This is so stressful.’ But then to have that reminder that I’ve actually gotten through way worse and have gone through things that most people my age, thankfully, haven't experienced is reassuring. Everyone has something they’ve gone through that’s been able to strengthen them into the person they are today and gives them perspective. But that’s what mine is for me and it’s, in a way, aided me in getting ready for college and doing so well here.” – Em von der Ruhr ’23