Teen triumphs over illness to achieve academic excellence

A Sea Point teen says she is determined to live life to the fullest and not let a severe and often debilitating chronic illness get her down.

- FOUZIA VAN DER FORT FOUZIA.VANDERFORT@ACM. CO.ZA

Lia Sachs, from Sea Point, is battling severe ulcerative pancolitis, a chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Lia Sachs, 19, who had been diagnosed at age 15 with a severe ulcerative pancolitis, a chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), achieved nine distinctions in matric last year.

"Diarrhoea, with blood and mucus in the stool, and abdominal cramps are the most common symptoms of ulcerative colitis," she said.

The inflammatory bowel disease only affects the colon, which causes inflammation of the superficial layers of the colon to a varying extent, resulting in "colitis", or colon inflammation.

Ulcerative colitis may only affect the rectum (proctitis) or the whole colon (total or pancolitis).