Too Young for C. diff

C. diff survivor and long time Peggy Lillis Foundation advocate, Minnie Hatch, spoke with Self.com about her long and harrowing battle with C. diff. Not the typical C. diff patient, Minnie was diagnosed with C. diff at the age of 19. But after ruling out other possibilities, C. diff was all that was left.

“My symptoms kept being chalked up to polycystic ovary syndrome (which I was diagnosed with at age 13), but I started to feel much worse, so she referred me to a GI specialist. We worked through the basic stuff: Don’t eat so much sugar, drink less caffeine, get more sleep. But none of these things helped the fact that I truly felt like I was dying; I couldn’t get out of bed and frequently had to call out of work. This went on for months, until my doctor eventually looked at me and said, “I think I know what it is, but you’re just so young.” So he finally ordered a test and his suspicions were correct: I had C. diff.”

At a young age, Minnie suffered through numerous rounds of treatment and several recurrences. She has now been C. diff free for 3 years, the longest stretch she has ever gone without an infection. We are proud of the work Minnie has done as a PLF advocate. You can read the full article here.