He has a severe case of Crohn's disease - by far the worst his specialist here in central Tx has ever seen. The various medications have not been working for him, and he is pretty much out of options as he has just finished up dosing the latest new Crohns/IBS drug available. Most of these drugs are so serious they won't even let you take them for more than 6 months or a year. So if they don't work, you move on to the next one.

He started taking classes and was overwhelmed pretty quickly trying various Bio- or Engineering degree plans. It was only his second or third semester when he had some inflammation so serious that it required dropping all of his classes (thankfully with no repercussions) and having emergency surgery. He's pretty sure stress was the reason for this flare up. But he comes back and continues to improve his GPA every semester. He finally decides he wants to major in Human Biology and work in a laboratory doing research on his illness.

After turning down his doctor's recommendation last fall to have surgery that would leave him with a ileostomy/colostomy bag, he just finished his last full semester with a 3.03 GPA taking all upper level bio classes with 3-4 hour labs. He has one final class to finish up this summer, but they are letting him walk across the stage now because there is no summer ceremony.

Unfortunately, he's just not doing well right now. The guy is almost 5'-10" tall and barely 100 lbs. For reference, his healthy weight is still skin and bones at 140 lbs. I just hope he hasn't pushed too hard or neglected himself too much and is able to finish up this summer and get his degree. Then I hope he focuses on taking care of himself. It's unfortunate this amazing kid has to suffer so much.

For those interested, his name is Michael D. Smith. Thanks for reading.